CCS2: Cardcreators Sakura & Syaoran
by Gentlewolf
Summary: The continuing story of Sakura & Syaoran from Cardcaptor Sakura. If you haven't yet, I highly recommend that you read my Epilogue fanfic for the second Cardcaptor Sakura Move, The Sealed Card. This story continues directly after my Epilogue. Enjoy!
1. Prologue

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CCS-2: Cardcreators Sakura & Syaoran:

_Prologue:_

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**Disclaimer:** _Cardcaptor Sakura_ is property of **CLAMP** I claim no rights to any of the characters, only the idea for this storyline. ARIGATO!!

Welcome to the continuing story of Sakura & Syaoran from Cardcaptor Sakura. If you haven't yet, I highly recommend that you read my Epilogue fanfic for the second Cardcaptor Sakura movie, The Sealed Card.

Please review. It is knowing that my stories are liked and that others are interested in them that motivates me to continue writing. My Epilogue fanfic seems to be a hit, so I hope that the continuation holds up to standards.

Enjoy, I will be working on Episode 1 as soon as I finish homework.

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Sakura lay awake staring into the darkness. Beside her, Tomoyo slept soundly. Sakura felt for her necklace and traced her fingers around the outside of the charm. The necklace was something that Syaoran had bought for her on their very first "official" date at the aquarium. The charm was of a heart, shaped by two dolphins. The dolphin's noses touched to form the top of the heart and their tails touched to form the bottom.

Syaoran… his name raced through her mind. In her minds eye she could see his brilliant amber colored eyes. It had been another four months since he had returned to Hong Kong. It was now winter break, and she had been invited to stay at Tomoyo's. Their break was nearly over though and they would be starting the 7th grade in a couple of days. She had hoped that Syaoran would have returned by now and that they would be starting at their new school together.

Sakura rolled over to her side, with her back to her sleeping friend. In the darkness of the room, she could just make out the picture she had placed on the nightstand. It was the picture that Tomoyo had taken of her and Syaoran together after she had captured the sealed card.

Syaoran noh Baka, she thought to herself as she fought her urge to cry. She didn't want to wake Tomoyo again. Her best friend had hardly had any sleep since she came to stay with her over the winter break.

You pinky swore! She screamed in her mind. He had promised her that he would return. Sakura had thought the most logical conclusion she had ever had in her life, that he would finish the school year in China and start a new one with her in Japan. Sakura's lips trembled and she held her breath in her fight to control her emotions.

She had only actually heard from him once, and he hadn't given much hint as to what was going on. When Meilin sent the doubles of the pictures that she had taken over summer break, Syaoran had written on the back of a picture taken of them together at the aquarium. "Never forget that I Love You," it read in his handwriting.

Sakura pulled her knees up into a fetal position. Whenever she called, she was always told the same thing. That he wasn't available. No matter how much she begged to have him call her back, he never did.

Tomoyo had received a couple of e-mails from Eriol, but again, no insight was offered. He would only say that everything was going as planned. What Plan? Sakura thought with a whimper as she hugged her knees tighter. WHOSE PLAN?? She screamed in her mind. All she wanted was to know what was going on, to hear his voice, and to hear him tell her that he loved her. Those three little requests would make it so much easier to handle the distance between them.

Sakura suddenly felt an arm around her waist and Tomoyo's head resting against her back. She hadn't realized that her entire body had started to shake with sobs and that she was crying again.

The trembling of the bed had brought Tomoyo out of a deep sleep. As her mind began to comprehend the motion she was suddenly wide-awake. She wrapped a comforting arm around her dearest friend and pulled herself in closer to Sakura's back. Tomoyo hated to see her like this. It was always at night, never during the day. During the day you could find plenty of things to do in order to redirect your thoughts.

Sakura cried harder, sobbing and shaking violently into her pillow. Syaoran Noh Baka! She screamed over and over in her head.

Tomoyo soothed her friend, quietly humming a lullaby while rocking back and forth with her comfortingly. This had been a nightly occurrence since Sakura came to stay with her. She hated to think what it was like when Sakura was home, in her own room, alone, with no one to comfort her. Tomorrow she would try to call Eriol again and try to get some answers. Sakura's sobs slowly subsided while she cried herself to sleep. Tomoyo continued to hold her as they slept.

The morning rays of light through the window seemed to come too quickly. Tomoyo's eyes fluttered open and she raised a hand to shield her eyes from the sun. She made a mental note to move her bed and peered to Sakura to confirm that she was still asleep.

Slowly Tomoyo slipped out of the bed and quietly walked through the room. Because she was sleeping so soundly, Tomoyo didn't want to risk waking Sakura. She found her phone and silently opened the door to step into the hall. It was early, around 6:00 in the morning, but it was the only time she would have to call. She hoped that he wouldn't be too upset with her and dialed the number.

After a few rings, the call was finally answered. "H…. hello?" answered a groggy voice in English.

"Ohayo, Hiiragizawa-san." Tomoyo greeted Eriol.

"D…daidōji-san," Eriol sounded surprised and suddenly wide-awake. "Is everything ok? It's so early."

"No, Hiiragizawa-san, everything is not ok, and I demand that you give me some answers that are worth while!" Tomoyo's tone changed suddenly to one of anger. She was tired of seeing her best friend crying herself to sleep every night. She found it ridiculous that no one would give them a straight answer as to what was going on in China.

"What is it that you want to know?" Eriol said happily.

"What is going on over there?" Tomoyo demanded more forcefully.

Eriol had left four months ago with Syaoran and Meilin for China. He didn't say why he was going, only that it looked like he would be making a visit with his "cute little descendent" back to China for awhile."

"What ever do you mean, my dear?" he asked innocently

Tomoyo was taken by surprise at his informality. "D…. don't sound so innocent, Hiiragizawa-san…" she trailed off and took a deep breath before continuing. "Do you know what it's like to watch your best friend cry herself to sleep night after night?" She snapped, uncharacteristically to her nature.

"No," Eriol answered. "But I do know what it's like to watch my cute little descendant walking around like a zombie and staring longingly at her pictures when he thinks that no one is watching." He stated matter-of-factly.

"So, Li-kun does still love her," Tomoyo spoke her thoughts out loud unconsciously.

"What are you talking about, Daidōji-san," Eriol questioning voice inquired in confusion. "How could you think not?"

Tomoyo startled out of her thoughts. She hadn't realized that she had said that out loud. "W…well, we've barely heard from anyone…. and we have no idea what is going on." She explained defensively.

Eriol sighed, unsure that he would ever understand the female mind, and at the same time unsure that he even wanted to. "Syaoran sent a message to Sakura," He stated. "On the back of the picture was the only way that he could."

Tomoyo looked confused. Eriol was lucky to be in another country, or else she just may have strangled him. "Why was that the only way he could send a message? Why doesn't he ever call her back when she calls?" Tomoyo asked after taking a deep breath with the attempt to regain her composure.

Again Eriol sighed at her persistence. There was only one way that he knew of to drop the subject, though it may offend her at the same time. "Tomo-Chan," he called her as though they had known one another their entire life. "I am not at liberty to discuss this with you, I'm sorry. Please just trust that everything is going according to plan."

"WHAT PLAN!" Tomoyo cut him off and yelled in frustration. "What part of Sakura crying herself to sleep every night since she's been staying with me don't you understand?"

"Gomen nasai Daidōji-san," he said, trying another approach. Tomoyo suddenly felt like she had been slapped. What was with him? She supposed the only logical excuse was because he was English and not Japanese. "Please make sure that Sakura makes it home tonight by 7:00." He then told her. "Matane, Tomo-Chan," he concluded and hung up his phone.

Well, that proved to be completely useless, Tomoyo thought to herself as she hung up her phone. Tomo-Chan? What was that about? Since when were they on a first name bases? She wondered, walking back to her room and silently opening the door.

Sakura still slept soundly, so Tomoyo went about her morning routine as quietly as possible so as not to wake her.

Sakura stirred in her sleep. She could hear Tomoyo rustle quietly around the room. However, she didn't want to wake up yet. She had been dreaming and she wanted nothing more then to go back to her dream. At least there, she was with Syaoran.

Sakura lie in the bed, drifting in and out of sleep. Whenever her mind came into consciousness she refused to open her eyes and would try to will herself back to sleep. She didn't want to face another day without him.

She felt a hand gently shake her shoulder, "S…sakura-chan, you really should get up now. It's already 10:30, and we have a lot to do today." Tomoyo said in her soft voice. Sakura stayed perfectly still. She didn't want to get up. She was tired of acting cheerful when she had nothing to be cheerful about. "Sakura-chan, are you awake?" Tomoyo said a bit louder and shook her shoulder a bit more forcefully.

Sakura moaned and rolled over. "No," she answered. "I don't want to wake up."

"Come on, Sakura-Chan," Tomoyo pleaded. "We have to go pick up our new school uniforms today."

"I don't want to!" Sakura stated defiantly and hugged her pillow.

"You're going to leave me no choice in the matter," Tomoyo threatened and pulled the covers off of the bed. "If you don't get up, I'll tickle you until you die laughing."

"No!" Sakura replied stubbornly and threw her pillow at Tomoyo.

Tomoyo caught the pillow and returned fire before pouncing on her friend, beginning to tickle her wildly.

Sakura kicked and screamed with laughter, flaying her hands around madly in the attempt to catch Tomoyo's. "S…stop…" She cried between giggles.

"Are you going to get up?" Tomoyo asked, and continued to tickle mercilessly.

"O…okay!!" Sakura managed to say and hopped off of the bed as soon as Tomoyo ceased her torture.

Tomoyo pulled Sakura along in her morning routine and then dragged her out the door. "How about brunch at the BBQ downtown," She said, though not really as a suggestion. Sakura had barely been eating. The last time that Tomoyo had measured her for an outfit she had lost a total of 6 inches combined between her measurements. It worried Tomoyo. Sakura would be nothing but skin and bones if something didn't change.

"I'm not very hungry Tomoyo-Chan," Sakura told her for the third time since they had entered the restaurant, sat down and ordered. Actually, it had been Tomoyo who had ordered the food, and now she was practically trying to force feed her. "Honestly, Tomoyo-Chan. I'm not hungry," She repeated.

"If you don't eat, Sakura, you're going to waste away to nothing!" Tomoyo exclaimed in worry. "You haven't eaten since breakfast yesterday, and even that wasn't much," she pointed out, remembering how Sakura had left most of the food untouched.

After continued persisting, Tomoyo got Sakura to eat a few bites. At least it was better then nothing, she thought to herself and paid the bill before they left to purchase their new school uniforms. Along the way, they ran into a few friends from class, and stopped at a few other stores to look around. Eventually, the distraction was successful and Sakura seemed to enjoy the day more. Occasionally, something would remind her of Syaoran. A song that she heard playing on the radio at one of the stores, one of their classmates asking how he was doing, the bridge, and then Penguin Park.

After cheering Sakura up, again, Tomoyo glanced at her watch and discovered that it was going on 5:30. Better get some dinner and get back to the house for Sakura's things before taking her home, thought Tomoyo as she remembered how Hiiragizawa-san had told her to make sure Sakura got home at 7:00.

Dinner went much better then brunch, and Sakura actually ate more then half of her food. This made Tomoyo happy, which was probably the only reason that Sakura had eaten that much. After dinner, the girls returned to the Daidōji residence for Sakura's belongings.

After packing her bags, Sakura picked up the picture of she and Syaoran from the nightstand. Sitting on the edge of the bed she studied it closely. Every detail of that picture was engraved into her mind. She could close her eyes and see it as clearly as she was now, looking at it. Tomorrow was her first day of 7th grade. She hadn't heard from anyone today about his return. She wondered if it was fruitless to hope she might see him sitting at a desk waiting for her tomorrow morning.

"Are you ready to go, Sakura-Chan?" Tomoyo's voice called to her from the door.

"H…hai," Sakura shook her thoughts away. It was time to put on her act again. She didn't want to worry Otou-san and Onii-chan.

The ride home was mostly silent. Tomoyo rode with her in the back of one of the family limousines. "Are you sure you don't want me to help you?" Tomoyo asked once they had arrived at Sakura's house and Sakura began to gather all of her bags. She had her duffle bag, her book bag, a couple of bags from shopping earlier, and her roller blades to carry into the house.

"I think I've got it," Sakura answered and smiled to her best friend. "Arigatou, Tomoyo-Chan, for letting me stay with you over the break."

Tomoyo merely hugged her and smiled. "If you need anything, I don't care how late it is, you call me."

"Hai!" Sakura smiled as cheerfully as she could before turning to head for the door.

"I'm home!" She called, once she was inside. Dropping her bags, she took off her shoes. "Otou-san? Onii-chan?" she called and wandered into the kitchen.

"In here, Sakura-san," her father called from the living room.

"I'm home," she repeated as she walked to the living room door, where she froze in complete surprise. "S…. s…Syaoran…." She whispered.


	2. Episode 1:

**CCS-2: Card creators Sakura & Syaoran:**

_Episode 1:_

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**Disclaimer:** _Cardcaptor Sakura_ is property of **CLAMP** I claim no rights to any of the characters, only the idea for this storyline. ARIGATO!!

Welcome to the continuing story of Sakura & Syaoran from Cardcaptor Sakura. If you haven't yet, I highly recommend that you read my Epilogue fanfic for the second Cardcaptor Sakura movie, The Sealed Card.

Please review. It is knowing that my stories are liked and that others are interested in them that motivates me to continue writing. My Epilogue fanfic seems to be a hit, so I hope that the continuation holds up to standards.

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Was she dreaming? Sakura wondered. Syaoran was right here, in her living room. He looked up at her when she entered the room. His lips moved into a slight smile and his eyes shown with happiness to see her. She wanted to jump into his arms, to touch him, to be sure that he was really there. However, he sat at the corner of their sectional couch. She would have to jump over the table to reach him, as her Father and older brother sat to one side of the sofa and on the other side there sat…Syaoran's Mother?

"HOoo…ee?" She exclaimed in confusion at the sight. What was going on? What was Syaoran's mother doing here? She looked out of place, sitting in their humble living room. Compared to the Li mansion, Sakura's house looked like a survival hut.

Li, Yelan was dressed in a woman's Chinese style business suite. She silk material, elaborately embroidered, looked like it might cost as much as Sakura's house. The sides of her hair were pulled up into a knot and held in place with a pair of hair sticks that probably cost just as much. Sakura stared at her in surprise with a vacant look of confusion.

"Ni hao, Sakura-Chan." Yelan greeted her with a smile.

"Ni…hao…" Sakura replied with a bow, though her Chinese was poor.

"Come," Yelan told her, and stretched out an arm towards her.

Sakura looked from Syaoran to Touya to her father and back to Syaoran for guidance. What in the world was going on? She felt dizzy with confusion. Syaoran offered a smile of reassurance and nodded.

Sakura took Yelan's offered hand and found herself being pulled into an embrace and led to sit between she and Syaoran. "Tell me," Yelan came straight to the point. "Do you love my son?"

"Hoe!" Sakura quickly exclaimed and looked up with sudden surprise at her father and older brother. She hadn't said anything to either one of them about her relationship with Syaoran. Touya sat on the other side of Syaoran, keeping as much distance as he could respectfully. His head was turned, as if to look across the room, except his eyes were closed as if he were trying to tune out her answer. Fujitaka, on the other hand, sat at the opposite end of the sectional smiling at her. "Hai," she swallowed, unsure of what her father's reaction might be. To her surprise, though, he continued to smile and didn't seem the least bit surprised by her answer.

"Than it is settled," Yelan concluded with a glance at Sakura's father. Sakura watched the silent communication between the adults in bewilderment. "W…. what is going on?" She whispered to Syaoran, whose only answer was to slide one of his hands into her own.

"Clow's magic will solely belong to the Li Dynasty once again," Fujitaka confirmed.

Sakura stiffened and her eyes went wide hearing her father mention Clow. She hadn't ever told him about the cards. How did he know?

"Did you think that I wasn't aware of such a book being in my possession?" Fujitaka asked with a smile upon observing his daughter's reaction. I knew that one day that book would be opened again. I just never thought that you would be the one to open it," he told her.

"HOoo…. ee…." Sakura exclaimed, feeling dizzy again. "I'm so confused," she stated unsteadily.

"My dear," Yelan began, lightly placing a hand under Sakura's chin and bringing her face around to look at her. "You are now betrothed to my son." She explained.

Sakura's eyes went wide and the blood rushed to her face, "Be…be…. betrothed…." she stammered in surprise, "t…to Syaoran?" Without realizing it, she had let go of Syaoran's hand and stiffened in shock.

"Do you not want to be?" Yelan asked and turned her body so to fully face the girl sitting next to her. "I thought you said that you loved my son?"

Sakura dropped her gaze and studied her hands folded in her lap. She wanted to disappear she was so embarrassed. "It's not that…" She quickly responded. "I do…. I…it's just so…. so sudden." She tried to explain. "I haven't heard from anyone in 4 months, and all of a sudden you're both here, and I wasn't told anything before now," Sakura stated. She was a mess of emotions. She was excited to be betrothed to Syaoran, yet she was angry that no one had spoken with her in regards to any of this. Didn't she have a say in the matter, even if she was more then happy to comply. "I…need some air." She said and stood to flee from the room. She needed to be alone, but she knew that someone would probably follow her.

"Sakura!" exclaimed Syaoran and Touya, both standing to follow as she dashed through the door and into the kitchen. "FLY!" they heard her yell and saw a sudden light glow brightly through the doorway.

Sakura flew through the house and out the front door into the cold night air of winter without taking the time to grab her shoes or a coat.

She flew through the air, welcoming the crisp breeze on her face to cool the heat in her cheeks. She flew and flew, never once bothered by the cold. She already felt numb. As long as she was in the air, no one could come after her. She needed to think. They had dropped quite a bombshell on her. Never mind that she wanted nothing more then to be engaged to Syaoran. This wasn't how she had thought it would be. She wasn't even 13 yet….

She flew until the cold finally began to creep through to her bones. She landed, unsure of where she was. Was she even still in Tomoeda? She hugged herself, trying to ward off the cold as she shivered. Thankfully there was no snow on the ground and her feet remained dry, but her socks could only do so much to ward off the cold. Great…now what do I do…. she wondered to herself. She wasn't sure that she had enough magic to fly back home. She looked down the street, finding a few businesses, most of which were closed. The places that were open didn't look like anywhere she wanted to go. Both places were clubs. Women in skimpy outfits pranced around, flirting with and chasing after most of the men. Sakura knew this wasn't someplace that she wanted to be and turned to run in the other direction.

She noticed the dark figure that stepped out of an alley a bit too late to stop, and ran directly into the solid object. "Well, well," a deep, dark voice said in Mandarin Chinese. "What have we got here?"

Sakura scrambled to her feet and ran back into the other direction, dodging and slipping past the men and women crowding the sidewalk. The best way to disappear, after all, was in a crowd. Though this wasn't the type of crowd she wanted to stay hidden in for long.

The man moved out of the shadow and into the light given off from a street lamp. He contemplated the direction in which the girl had run. A smirk crossed his face, he was sure that he had sensed an aura of magic around that little girl. He took a mental note of her appearance, which seemed to fit the description. How convenient it seemed, if she were the girl that he was looking for. He would have to check out the Jr. High's in the area to find her, he thought while he stroked at his long, flowing white goatee.

Sakura continued to run through the streets, unsure of where to go. If only she had thought to bring her phone, she could call Tomoyo to pick her up. Suddenly, she ran into another figure. She nearly fell back with the force, only to have her hand caught quickly to prevent her from falling. The situation was so familiar. Oh please let it be, she thought, as she glanced to the figure she had run into.

"Sakura! Oh thank goodness," came a familiar voice. "Are you ok? I've been worried sick." She heard as she was pulled into a tight embrace.

"S…. Syaoran!" She exclaimed and wrapped her arms around him, holding onto him desperately. "I was so scared!" She cried. "I…. I didn't know where I was," she started to sob. "A…and I used up too much magic."

Syaoran thanked the Gods that he was still able to locate her with his Clow Compass. Removing his coat, he wrapped it around her and picking her up, so that she would no longer be running around in her socks, carried her by piggy back in the direction he knew that Wei should be coming in short order with their vehicle.

Sakura held tightly around his shoulders and buried her face against the crook of his neck. He was so warm, what had she been thinking to run out in the middle of winter and not grab her shoes or coat? "G…Gomen ne" She muffled against his skin. Her breath sent a shiver up his spine. "I…. was just so surprised, I wasn't expecting anything like this," she tried to explain. "It's not that I don't…."

"It's ok, Sakura. It's not the way I would have preferred. I'm just glad that you're safe." He cut her off with a soothing voice. He spotted Wei not far from where he had jumped out of the car upon realizing the direction the Clow Compass had been pointing her out to be.

"Thank goodness you've been found, Sakura-san," Wei stated with relief and opened the door of the vehicle for her.

"G…Gomen nasai for being such a bother…" Sakura stammered as a wave of guilt washed over her. After Syaoran lowered her to her feet, Sakura stepped into the back of the car. Syaoran climbed in quickly after her and Wei closed the door to return to the drivers seat.

Sakura, trembling from the cold that had seeped deep into her bones, clinched Syaoran's coat around her and stare down at her lap. Soon, her lower lip began to tremble.

"Are you truly that cold?" Syaoran asked, and grabbed a blanket that was conveniently kept in the car to wrap around her. He was rubbing her arms vigorously in the attempt to warm her sooner when he noticed her tears. "S…sakura?" his voice was soft and full of concern. "Are you ok? You're not hurt are you?" He questioned with worry.

Sakura shook her head in reply to his questions but the tears continued to fall.

Syaoran watched her, completely dumbfounded. Sakura buried her face into the blanket and continued to sob. Her chest hurt and she could barely breath. Why had she flown off like that? Surely she had ruined her chances of being with Syaoran in the future. By running away, did that mean she had denied the engagement? Syaoran's mother was probably very disappointed with her. Syaoran probably thought that she didn't really love him. All of these thoughts rushed through her head.

Completely at a loss for what to do, Syaoran pulled her into an embrace and held her tightly. He ran a hand through her hair and lightly shushed her to calm down. If he had known that the announcement of an arranged marriage would upset her this much, he would have tried to convince his mother against it. He was used to such arrangements, as they had been made often in his family. Sakura, however, hadn't had the same sort of traditions taught to her. Sakura's family was very non-traditional and more modern then his.

By the time Wei pulled up to the Kinomoto residence, Sakura had cried herself into exhaustion. Touya rushed out the door to take her sleeping form from Syaoran. Immediately she was taken to her room. Syaoran watched from where he stood beside the car, an odd feeling of helplessness washed over him. He had no comprehension for what had happened nor for why Sakura was so upset.

Yelan placed a hand on her son's shoulder, causing him to jump out of his thoughts. It wasn't often that she could bring such a reaction from him. "It is best, for now, that we return to the apartment," she told him.

Syaoran nodded and slid back into the car. There was nothing more that could be done tonight. At least she was safe….

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**Preview of the Next Episode:**

It's Sakura's first day at her new school. Will Syaoran be waiting for her in the 7th grade class? Has she ruined her chances for being with Syaoran in the future? How does her father know about the Clow cards?

I'll try not to make you have to wait long for the next episode.


	3. Episode 2:

**CCS-2: Card creators Sakura & Syaoran:**

_Episode 2:_

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**Disclaimer:** _Cardcaptor Sakura_ is property of **CLAMP** I claim no rights to any of the original characters, only the idea for this storyline and any new characters I may have introduced for the purpose of building and continuing the storyline. ARIGATO!!

There's not much action in this episode, yet. Gomen nasai. However, there are a few things that I felt needed to be touched on before I continued with the storyline.

As I explained in my Epilogue fanfic, it is my style to try to keep as close to the original storyline as I possibly can. However, I have found it necessary to tweek a few minor details to fit better with my story idea. You may or may not notice that I have combined an element from the Manga into the story. I had to tweek it a bit, but I hope no one minds. After all, this is a "Fan"fic. Obviously I can't keep everything exactly the same because I am not **CLAMP**. ;)

I truly appreciate everyone's reviews so far! I really try to take them all into consideration when continuing to write the next episode. If you are concerned that I am protraying a character a little out of his or her element, I am greatful for a gentle reminder, but please no flaming about it. Everyone has been great about it so far. It's a little funny, though, because some of you have told me one opinion and others have told me the complete opposite in regards to a few characters. If I did it purposely, I will try to explain why in a later episode. If it was done unintentially, I will do what I can to correct it. Arigato gozaimasu minasan! Please continue to review. :)

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Sakura awoke with a start, and grabbed for her alarm clock. She would be late for her first day of 7th grade if she didn't hurry. Sakura bolted out of her bed to her closet for her school uniform.

"I tried to wake you up!" Kero was telling her as he fluttered around the room trying to avoid wherever she might suddenly move to next.

"Where's my Uniform!" Sakura exclaimed in panic, as she rushed around her room in her search.

Kero picked up a shopping bag that lay partially under her bed and flew after her with it. "You forgot to wash and to hang it up last night," he told her, waiting for her to take the bag. It was heavy for him in his little plushy form.

"HOoo…ee!!" Sakura exclaimed as she tried to shake the folds out of her new school uniform. How could she have forgotten to wash and hang up her uniform, she wondered. As she thought about it, she didn't remember coming up to bed last night either.

Pausing for a moment, all of the events of the night before swirled through her mind. She was betrothed to Syaoran, but because it was so sudden she hadn't taken it well at first and had flown off so that she could be alone. She remembered now that she had flown until she had used up more magic then she would need to fly back home and she landed. She didn't know where she had landed, but she knew she hadn't wanted to be there. There had been a man that she had run into. It was dark, and his features were hidden by shadow, but he had spoken in what she thought was Chinese. She didn't know what he had said, but his deep and husky voice haunted her and sent a shiver down her spine.

"Sakura-san, it's time for Breakfast!" She heard her father call from the foot of the stairs and snapped out of her thoughts. She hurried to get dressed and somehow managed to make the uniform look good. The skirt's color matched the color of her eyes, as did the collar of the white shirt. After she finished brushing her hair and tying the sides up into pigtails with pink ribbons and was satisfied with her appearance she grabbed her bag and rushed out of her bedroom door and down the stairs.

"OHAYO!" She exclaimed after stepping into the kitchen.

"You're late," Touya told her and stuffed a piece of toast into his mouth.

"Ohayo, Sakura-san," her father told her with a smile, bringing her breakfast around to the table. She didn't notice the look of concern on his face as she began to eat.

"You can ride to your new school with us," Fujitaka told his daughter as he sat down to finish his own breakfast. "Your Jr. High is right next to the college campus after all."

Sakura nodded and took a gulp of juice to force down a bite that had been too big. "Will Yukito be riding with us?" She asked after a moment. It only seemed logical to her that he would, since he and Touya went to the same college that her father worked at as a professor of archaeology.

As though on cue, the doorbell rang. "That's probably Yuki now," Touya explained, standing to take his plate to the sink and then leaving the kitchen to answer the door.

Sakura stuffed her last bite of toast in her mouth and finished off her glass of juice before rushing to help her father rinse the breakfast dishes and load the dishwasher. She and Fujitaka then grabbed their bags and hurried out the door to meet with Touya and Yukito.

Once they arrived at the college and from where they parked the car, Sakura would have to roller blade across the campus to get to her Jr. High. "Do you want us to go with you today?" asked Yukito as she finished snapping her roller blades.

"No, that's ok, just point me in the right direction," she answered. She really wanted a bit of time with her thoughts before she walked into her new class.

"Well, I'm off! Matane!" She told them, and sped off across the campus. Glad for the moment of peace, her thoughts returned to the night before. Syaoran had come to find her. He had carried her to a car and held her while she cried. Why had she cried? A sudden wave of guilt surged through her body. She had cried because she was ashamed of her actions. Surely Yelan-san wasn't pleased. She had been so selfish…

Sakura was lost so deeply in her thoughts that she turned right where she had been told to turn left. She ran head on into someone who, as she nearly fell back, caught her hand to keep her from falling. Syaoran? She wondered as she began to apologize profusely.

Sakura looked, expecting to see Syaoran staring back at her. What she saw caused her to freeze, momentarily awe-struck. His eyes were the same, his hair was the same, but there were a few minor differences in the facial structure and height. Especially his height. Towering over her she couldn't help but to stare at what could mistakenly be an older version of Syaoran.

"Are you ok?" He asked, moving quickly to offer support so that she could regain her balance.

"H….hai…." Sakura stammered, still staring. He looked to be a college student, she noted. Did Syaoran have any male relatives who had come to study in Japan? She wondered.

"I'm glad," He told her, letting go of her when he was sure that she had regained her balance.

Suddenly the bell for the start of class began to ring. "HOoo…Eee!!" Sakura squealed. "I'm going to be late!!" She spun around on her roller blades to head in the right direction. "I'm so sorry!" She called back to the Man who looked like Syaoran. "Please excuse me!"

As she sped off, a man dressed in a southern style Jing mo, a Chinese shirt-jacket with a mandarin collar and frog ties, stepped out from under a nearby tree. His build was average height and slender yet heavily muscled. His eyes were narrow and black, his head bald of all hair except for his long, flowing white goatee that moved with the wind. He watched as the girl skated away towards the Jr. High. "Found you," he spoke in fluent Mandarin Chinese.

The two men, the older and the younger, caught one another's gaze in recognition. Both then quickly disappeared.

Sakura found her way to the school and rushed into the office. She would need a late pass. She quickly explained that she had made a wrong turn and gotten lost. She was then escorted to her class, 15 minutes late. "Your tardiness will be excused for today, since it is your first day, but from this day forth you are expected to be on time," she was told by her new teacher, Kobayashi-san. "Your seat has been saved for you," he instructed that she take her seat quickly. She turned to find seating arrangements identical to those of her last class. Syoaran and Tomoyo had saved a seat for her, one in front of Syoaran and to the left of Tomoyo. Behind Tomoyo sat another familiar face that she hadn't expected to see. It was Eriol. Unfortunately, now was not the time for questions as Kobayashi-san continued with class.

When it was time for lunch, Syaoran pulled her aside before Tomoyo could distract her. Sakura allowed him to lead her by the hand to a private area in the hall. "How are you feeling?" he asked in concern once he had found a spot where they wouldn't be interrupted.

Sakura folded her hands in front of her once he had released her hand. She stare down at her hands, unable to look directly at him. She felt so ashamed over her actions from the night before and the concern she heard in his voice was like a stab of guilt for having run away from the situation. "Gomen ne," she spoke weakly.

Syaoran placed a gentle hand under her chin to lift her gaze to his. "How are you feeling?" he repeated the question softly.

"O…okay," she answered, grateful for the concern and understanding she found in his eyes.

"We are all to meet at my apartment after school," he told her with a hug. "Are you ok with that?" He asked.

Sakura nodded against his shoulder, relief washing over her. Their moment was cut short, however, as she found herself being pulled out of the embrace and spun around to face her best friend. "Hoe?" She exclaimed with sudden surprise.

"Why didn't you call me or come to my place," Tomoyo asked, her voice full with a mixture of concern and hurt that Sakura hadn't confided in her.

Eriol stepped up behind the group and looked at Syaoran apologetically. "I couldn't distract her any longer then that." Eriol explained to Syaoran quietly so that neither girl could hear. Syaoran nodded his thanks, and left with Eriol to give the girls room to converse.

The rest of the school day went by as expected, for being the first day. After the final bell had rung, the group left for Syaoran's new apartment. The apartment was within walking distance of the school, in the direction opposite of the college campus. Just before leaving the school grounds the group met up with Touya and Yukito. "Dad will be along shortly, he said he would meet us there." Touya explained. Though Touya glanced at his little sister's joined hand with the twerp, as he still referred to Syaoran as being, with contempt he kept from commenting, recognizing that he was going to have to get use to the situation whether he liked it or not.

Sakura was surprised to discover, upon their arrival, that Syaoran and Eriol were sharing a three-bedroom apartment. Wei greeted them at the door and took coats and hats. Yelan greeted them in the living room. "How are you feeling, Sakura-Chan?" She asked as she approached Sakura with a hug.

"I…I'm okay…" Sakura answered quietly. "I'm really sorry about the way I acted last night." She then added quickly.

Yelan framed Sakura's face with her hands, smiled understandingly and kissed her cheek. "I apologize that the news was so sudden and that I had to keep my son from contacting you ahead of time." She answered.

"HOoo..ee?"

"How long have you been here?" Tomoyo asked suddenly, taking note that the apartment was completely set up with no moving boxes in sight. Surely Wei couldn't have unpacked everything in one day. She looked directly at Eriol, thinking back to the call she made to him yesterday morning. Were they already in town then? She wondered.

Eriol smiled at her innocently.

The moment was broken when the doorbell rang. "Konbanwa Kinomoto-san," they heard Wei greet as he opened the door for Fujitaka.

With everyone now gathered in the living room, each person found a place to sit. Yelan insisted that Sakura sit beside her on the two-seater couch, with Syaoran standing behind them. Fujitaka sat on the only single chair in the room, which looked as though it was most likely Eriol's. Touya, Yukito and Tomoyo sat on the couch. Eriol remained standing behind where Tomoyo sat.

Yelan turned her body so that she faced Sakura and took both of Sakura's hands into her own. "Again, I am sorry that you were left in the dark for the past four months." She began. "It came to my attention once my son had returned and Clow-sama's reincarnation explained that the cards had chosen my son's destiny to be with you. I too saw that your destiny was meant to be." She paused with a smile.

"However," Yelan continued to explain. "When I counseled with the elders, there were a few who disagreed. Those who wish to keep the bloodline "pure." Hiiragizawa-sama presented himself at the second counsel. After proving that he is indeed the reincarnation of Clow-sama he convinced most of the elders that you and my Son were destined to be together." Again, she paused to smile as Sakura's cheeks burned brightly. Sakura waited for her to continue.

"One man, however, Kuen-Jie, protested and continued to insist that the bloodline must be kept pure. He turned a deaf ear to the truth." Yelan briefly concluded, looking to Eriol to continue.

"HOo..ee?" Sakura looked confused as Eriol moved to speak.

"I am not Clow's sole reincarnation," Eriol began. "Clow soul was split into two reincarnations." He stated, much to Sakura's look of surprise.

"N….nani?" Sakura exclaimed. "How can that be?" She looked completely confused.

"You wondered how it was that I know of the Clow cards, Sakura-san." Her father suddenly spoke up, much to Sakura and Touya's surprise. "I hadn't expected that it would be you to break the seal and spread the cards, though. I had thought that Touya would become their new master." Fujitaka explained.

"You knew all along, Otousan?" Sakura said suddenly.

"Well, not exactly. I don't have all of Clow's memories like Hiiragizawa-san, and in effect have none of Clow's power. However, Clow chose to have his soul split in order that no one person would become as powerful as he had been with the Clow cards.

"So you see, Sakura-chan," Yelan brought Sakura's attention back to her. "Clow-sama split his powers during a time when the elders of the Li Dynasty were power hungry. With the cards in Japan, the elders lost the power that, at that time, would most likely have been used for the wrong purpose. It appears that he had another plan in mind for the Li Dynasty."

"W…what was that?" Sakura asked innocently.

Yelan smiled at her innocence. Such a virtue was rare. "To bring the cards and the power of the Li Dynasty back together when the time was right, and their power would be used properly."

"HOo…ee?" Sakura exclaimed suddenly with a blush as the realization of what she was being told sank in.

"However," Yelan continued. "We still have Kuen-Jie to worry about. Kuen-Jie is one who seeks power, and who would use the power that he receives for the wrong purposes. I instructed my Son not to contact you while he was finishing his school year in China in order to protect you." Yelan framed Sakura's face with her hands. "Kuen-Jie was exiled from the elders and the Li Dynasty because of his refusal to see the truth. I fear he has come in search for you, in order to take the cards from your possession." She explained. "Now that my Son is back in Japan, though, along with Hiiragizawa-san, I know that you and the cards are protected. "

Sakura's eyes went wide with worry. "C…come to think of it… I…I did run into someone this morning." She stuttered, completely having forgotten about the man from the night before.

"Nani?" both Syaoran and Touya exclaimed in unison, both waiting expectantly for more information.

"H….he surprised me. I made a wrong turn and ran into him when I wasn't paying attention," Sakura began to explain. "He looked….like an older Syaoran." She concluded, much to everyone's surprise.

Yelan studied Sakura's face, seeming momentarily lost in thought. "That was not Kuen-Jie." She spoke softly, as though she were remembering something from a distant past.

"HOo…ee?" The sound brought Yelan back to the present and she smiled warmly, "Does Syaoran have another relatives staying here in Japan too, then?" Sakura found herself asking.

"No, there isn't anyone alive who my Son resembles in appearance so closely," Yelan explained. "But I'm sure that if you see that man again, he will be as kind hearted as the one that you love."


	4. Episode 3:

**CCS-2: Card creators Sakura & Syaoran:**

_Episode 3:_

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**Disclaimer:** _Cardcaptor Sakura_ is property of **CLAMP** I claim no rights to any of the original characters, only the idea for this storyline and any new characters I may have introduced for the purpose of building and continuing the storyline. ARIGATO!!

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Sakura sat on the steps leading to the main entry of her school. School had been over for a couple of hours. She had stayed for her Cheerleading practice and was now waiting for her escort.

It was spring, and the Cherry blossoms were in bloom. Tomorrow was her 13th birthday. Sakura sighed longingly and rested her elbows on her knees and held her hands under her chin. Across the schoolyard, not far into the college campus, she could see the most beautiful Cherry tree in full bloom.

They were nearly three months into the school year, and ever since the second day of school, no one would let her go anywhere on her own. Wherever she went, whatever she did, someone was always with her. She was sitting there now, waiting for Tomoyo and Eriol to meet with her after their choir practice in order to walk her across campus to meet with Touya and Yukito. Eriol had joined the choir in order to accompany the choir with the piano.

Sakura appreciated how everyone cared for her, and wanted to ensure her safety, but nothing had happened up to this point. She was beginning to feel like a caged bird, watching the skies with longing and aching to fly.

Usually Wei would come to pick her up after her cheerleading practice, but today he was busy working with Syaoran on his training. Syaoran usually practiced his Martial Arts on his own while Wei came to escort her home or back to Syaoran's apartment. However, they had been working on some intense forms lately that required all of Syaoran's focus and attention after school. She had only been able to see him during school for the past month. She hoped that he would at least be able to take some time away from his training tomorrow to spend some time with her on her birthday.

Sakura's gaze remained focused on the Cherry tree. It's beauty beckoned to her and she longed to lounge under it. She glanced at her watch. Cheerleading had ended early as a treat for their hard work. Choir practice wouldn't be over for another 15 minutes.

What could it hurt? She thought to herself. It wasn't like the tree was that far away. It was within line of sight to the school's main entry. Tomoyo and Eriol would see her when they came out. Besides, she was beginning to think that they were all worrying too much. She hadn't seen the college student who looked so much like Syaoran since the first day of school and there hadn't been any signs of that Kuen-Jie person. Surely, it would be ok for her to wait under the Cherry tree.

Sakura stood and began to make her way towards the tree. Upon her arrival she raised her eyes to the beauty of the Cherry blossoms above her. "Beautiful!" She sighed with pleasure. A light breeze rustled through the branches of the tree and through her hair. It felt refreshing, and brought a yearning to fly. She hadn't used Magic in nearly three months per Yelan's request. Syaoran's mother had feared that it would draw Kuen-Jie's attention to her.

Sakura closed her eyes and tried to imagine that she was flying through the skies with the wind blowing through her hair. The thought made her smile with excitement.

"LOOK OUT!" Someone yelled. Her eyes snapped open in surprise and she found a familiar face running towards her in alarm. At first she mistook him for being Syaoran, but knew the voice wasn't right. Suddenly he was diving through the air towards her. Sakura braced herself for a tackle, only to be suddenly surrounded by a translucent green bubble. Almost immediately after, it shook around her violently upon being hit forcefully by a red bolt.

Back at his apartment where he sat deep in a meditative state, Syaoran's eyes snapped open as an intense feeling of eminent danger rushed through him. "Sakura!" He said her name urgently, jumping immediately to his feet and rushing from the training room, out the apartment and towards the school.

Meanwhile, at the college campus, Yukito suddenly stiffened in his seat where he sat next to Touya. His other half screamed in his head that Sakura was in danger. Without thought of interrupting their class, Yukito stood suddenly and rushed out of the room.

"YUKI!" Touya called in surprise, jumping up to follow.

After Yukito exited the building and made his way onto the empty grounds of the campus, he went from a full run to being airborne as he was immediately changed into Yue.

Sakura screamed and cowered to the ground as another red bolt collided against the side of the protective bubble that surrounded her. "Hurry and release your wand!" A voice came from out of nowhere within the walls of the bubble. "I'm not sure how much more I can hold off." It explained with a strained voice.

"RELEASE!" Sakura yelled, grabbing the star key that hung around her neck. "SHIELD!" She commanded in time to block two more bolts as the bubble disappeared from around her. "JUMP" She yelled in time to dodge a third bolt. She didn't have time to see where the attack was coming from. "HOoo…EEE!!" She exclaimed while continuing to dodge attacks and attempting to locate the source.

"Oh Kami-sama, Please keep her safe!" Syaoran muttered as he ran at full pace towards the school. He was at least a block away from his destination. He felt powerful Sha being manipulated, and a deep feeling of dread pounded through his veins.

"MIRROR" Sakura commanded, and her mirror image appeared in front of her. Simultaneously they jumped in opposite directions of one another. Thankfully, the diversion worked long enough that she was able to locate the source of the attacks. Though the bolts seemed to be coming out of thin air, as if the assailant was invisible.

"SAND, WATERY" Sakura called out "Combine to create a mold around the body of our enemy so that we may see the assailant!" At that exact same moment two bolts were sent forth, each one heading towards one of the two Sakura's.

The mirror image was hit and immediate dissipated. Making it just in time, Yue flew to his master's protection, grabbing her away from the assault in the nick of time.

"YUE!" Sakura exclaimed, relieved. She looked to where SAND & WATERY had molded to form a cast of mud around a large portion of the assailant. "A…a D…dragon!?" She gasped out in shock. It was huge! Standing as tall as the three-story tall school buildings and at least a long as the track and field track.

"There is some very powerful Sha being worked here," Yue said, more to himself then to his master.

"Sha?" Sakura questioned. "What is Sha?"

"In the Chinese practice of Fung Shi, it is cursed energy," Yue stated, flying with her to dodge another bolt.

"SAKURA!!" Touya yelled in concern from the ground below them.

"Touya!" Yue exclaimed, looking as though his two selves could suddenly split.

"ONIICHAN!" Sakura screamed in panic as she caught sight of a red bolt heading straight for him. "Get out of the way!"

Yue began to fly, with Sakura, in a race to reach Touya before the bolt, only to stop abruptly when Syaoran skidded to a stop in front of Touya. "METAL!" Syaoran called, pinning the green card to the ground before him with the tip of his sword. A White light shown brightly as the magic circle cast beneath Syaoran's feet in the shape of a bagua and reflected the bolt back to the source.

"Oniichan!" Sakura called out, running to him when Yue landed and set her feet on the ground.

"Get Out Of Here!" Syaoran, who knelt with his sword held over the card as he held the barrier around them, growled at Touya. "You shouldn't be here! You'll only be a distraction!"

"Yue!" Sakura spoke urgently when another bolt smashed against the barrier and spread over the white light that surrounded them before vanishing. "Get my brother out of here!" she commanded.

Yue stared at his master, taken back with shock. "Demo….Sakura-Sama," he spoke with surprise over her request.

"NOW!" Sakura screamed. "THAT'S AN ORDER!"

"Sakura!" Syaoran called to her urgently. "Will you lend me your power?" He asked with a pleading look upon the realization that his magical abilities alone wouldn't be strong enough to accomplish the task at hand. Sakura rushed to his side, unsure of how she could help. "Take hold of the sword." Syaoran instructed.

Sakura dropped to her knees beside him and laid her hands over top of his on the hilt of the sword. "GO, NOW!" Sakura yelled to Yue over her shoulder.

Without another thought, Yue turned and after grabbing hold of Touya, flew quickly away from the scene.

The Magic circle beneath their feet surged suddenly with power as the Tai Ji Tu formed within the center of the bagua directly under the couple. "Mystical Dragon of Metal, Come To Our Aid!" Syaoran called out as the white light began to expand around them.

After taking the shape of a white dragon, a blast of white energy blew from its mouth towards their assailant. The energy surrounded the other dragon, which was forced to appear from its invisibility. The red dragon began to dissipate within the light that surrounded it, releasing SAND and WATERY to return to their cards.

Syaoran pulled their hands from the hilt of the sword and pulled her into a tight embrace. "Oh thank the Gods you're alright!" he exclaimed. Once again, the magic circle beneath them surged with energy and a golden light surrounded them. A strong wind blew up from the circle, lifting the couple to their feet from where they had been kneeling. The light began to constrict around them, stretching high into the sky until it shown as a beam between them, shifting from a golden color to green. They looked up to find a card floating above them. The back, Sakura noted, looked identical to the METAL card that Syaoran had just used to defeat their enemy.

Syaoran reached for the card and pulled it down to eye level for further examination. "The FIRE" he read out loud and lowered the card for Sakura to see. On the front was a red dragon and red triangle. "Hoe?" Sakura exclaimed, as a sudden dizzy spell waved through her.

"SAKURA!!" Tomoyo yelled as she and Eriol ran towards Sakura and Syaoran from the Jr. High. Syaoran wrapped his arms around Sakura as she passed out against him. "SAKURA!" Tomoyo exclaimed again with her voice full of concern.

Syaoran lowered with her to the ground, still holding her tightly. "She's ok," He told Tomoyo when she and Eriol reached them. "She's fallen asleep."

Tomoyo stare at the couple with stars in her eyes. They looked so cute together. "KAWAII!" She exclaimed.

"It can't be helped, she used a lot of magic," Eriol stated matter-of-factly.

Syaoran glared up at Eriol suddenly. "If you were here, couldn't you feel it? Why didn't you assist her!" he growled in annoyance.

"What could I have done?" Eriol answered him innocently. "I wasn't the one with the cure."

Standing on a branch, concealed by Cherry blossoms, Kuen-Jie cursed under his breath as he watched the children in disbelief. It looked like he would have to derive a new course of action. He hadn't expected that Yelan's brat would have access to the Mystical Dragons, and he was most surprised about how skilled that girl was with the cards. Clearly, he had underestimated their abilities. He wouldn't next time though, he vowed and vanished.

Eriol stared at the spot at which he had felt Kuen-Jie's presence, however the physical body hadn't ever been there. Astral projection? Eriol wondered momentarily until his attention was requested elsewhere.

**Author Note:** I truly hope that this episode met with everyone's expectations. If there is any confusion, please be assured that I will clear up as much as I can, without giving away the plot, in the next episode. I will be starting the next episode tonight or tomorrow. (I'm getting somewhat tired and have a few other things to do before I can get to bed.) Please let me know what you think. I Love all of the feedback. It helps me to know if I am creating the effect in my readers that I am trying to achieve. :D I know, everyone hates cliffhangers, but If I didn't have them, would you be willing to read the next episode? ;)

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	5. Episode 4:

**CCS-2: Card creators Sakura & Syaoran:**

_Episode 4:_

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**Disclaimer:** _Cardcaptor Sakura_ is property of **CLAMP** I claim no rights to any of the original characters, only the idea for this storyline and any new characters I may have introduced for the purpose of building and continuing the storyline. ARIGATO!! (Thank the gods for copy & paste...)

Not a whole lot of action in this episode. There is more to come, I just found it was getting to long and decided to split it into two episodes. I'll be working on the next part soon. It's hard to write over the weekends and I also have midterms to work on.

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Sakura stirred awake to find herself staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling. Where was she? She wondered silently, sitting up to look around the room. It was very sparse, with only a bed, a dresser, and a desk. She stood from the bed to wander to the dresser where she saw a picture frame, but stopped abruptly when her feet touched the floor. She looked down to examine her clothes. "N….nani?" She wondered in surprise. She wasn't wearing her school uniform. She was dressed in a t-shirt that barely reached down to her knees. W…who had changed her, and where were her clothes, she wondered.

At the dresser, she examined the picture in that frame and discovered that it was one of the many that Meilin had taken of she and Syaoran last summer. "Hoo….ee!?" She exclaimed in sudden realization. She was in Syaoran's room, and had been sleeping on his bed! She could feel the heat rise into her cheeks as she wondered again who had changed her. Surely…..it hadn't been Syaoran… M…maybe it was Tomoyo-chan, she tried to convince herself.

She returned the picture frame back to the dresser and curiously wandered over to the desk. Everything was piled very neatly and organized. His schoolbooks, various school supplies, a Kanji dictionary, and his cards…

She picked them up to study them closer. Syaoran had written his name in Chinese Characters at the bottom. The cards were green, Syaoran's favorite color. The design on the back looked very similar to his Clow compass. He had called the eight sided octagon shaped symbol a bagua. In the center of the bagua was the tai ji tu symbol. She flipped the cards over to study the front. Both cards shown a picture of a dragon, one white and one red, with the shape of a white diamond included with the white dragon and a red triangle with the red dragon. One was called "The Metal" and the other was "The Fire." She didn't understand their purpose. She already had an elemental card for fire. Why did they need another?

Sakura glanced at the alarm clock that sat on the corner of the desk. 2:17, it read. Returning the cards to the desk, she crossed the room to the door, silently opened it and stepped directly out into the living room. Now, she was more familiar with her surroundings, having never actually been in Syaoran's room up until now. The living room was the big center room of the apartment. The section of the room nearest the kitchen also served as a dining area. Leading from the Eastern wall, directly from the living room, were Syaoran's and Eriol's rooms. As you continued to walk to the northern end of the room, a door lead to the kitchen and a small hallway lead off to the western direction of the apartment. On the left side of the wall in the hallway the first door lead to the bathroom and the second to Wei's room. At the very end of the hall a door lead to a recreation room that Syaoran and Wei used for training.

Sakura walked further into the living room, towards the couch. In the darkened room, she had barely been able to make out a sleeping form. Upon closer examination, she found Syaoran sleeping soundly. He looked very peaceful as she began to reach a hand to brush a few stray strands of hair away from his face. She hadn't even gotten her hand within an inch of touching him when he caught her hand and twisted it away from his face. Her sudden yelp of surprise and anticipated pain cause him to drop her hand as quickly as he had caught it.

"S…Sakura?" He exclaimed, sitting up quickly. "Gomen ne!" he said sincerely. "I didn't hurt you did I?" His voice was full of concern.

"It's okay, I'm fine," She told him, though she held her wrist to her chest and rubbed where he had started to twist it. She was grateful for the darkness of the room as she didn't want him to see that she was completely shocked by his actions. She supposed it was her own fault, though. She should have realized how sensitive he was to the presence of others.

Syaoran moved quickly to turn on the lamp at the end of the couch and turned back to examine her wrist. "I…I was surprised to have woken up i….in your room," she stammered over her words.

He looked up at her, from where he was now sitting on the couch, comprehending what she had said. He noted her blush after he lowered her hand back to her side, his hand just barely brushing against the shirt that she wore. In a sudden flood of consciousness he snatched his hand away. "Daidōji-san insisted that she change you so that you wouldn't be uncomfortable in your uniform," he quickly explained, looking away as she unconsciously pulled down at the bottom of the shirt as though it wasn't long enough.

"Well, um…." She started to say. "I'll sleep here so that you can sleep in your own bed." She explained with a cheerful smile, sitting at the other end of the couch and pulling the t-shirt past her knees.

"It's ok," he told her in return. "You can take my bed, I don't mind."

There was a long moment of silence.

"Syao….Syaoran?" Sakura broke quietly.

"Huumm??" He answered having difficulty to look directly at her. She looked really cute wearing one of his shirts, but because she seemed so uncomfortable, he didn't want to make her feel worse if he were to stare.

"What is Sha?" She asked. "Yue mentioned it and said something about it being a curse." She finished her explanation.

"Sha is cursed chi," Syaoran quickly explained. "Chi being the life force of magic." He explained further.

"Than, it's evil magic?" She questioned, pulling her knees to her chest and the t-shirt down around her legs.

"No," Syaoran began, bending forward to rest his elbows on his knees and he folded his hands together in front of him. "It is simply energy gone bad. Like how milk turns bad when it curdles." He explained.

"Demo?" Sakura started to ask, but wasn't sure how to form her next question.

Syaoran noted her look of confusion from the corner of his eye and continued to explain, "Anything can be misused for evil. Sha isn't necessarily deliberate. Sometimes it just happens. There are natural remedies, or cures, to correct it."

"But, that dragon," Sakura began to say. "It was deliberately shooting at us, like it wanted to hurt us."

Syaoran nodded and turned his head to look at her. "That's because it was deliberately trying to kill you." He admitted.

Sakura hugged her knees tightly and found her gaze locked with his. Syaoran's eyes shown with concern. "So, then…..it was evil…" She repeated.

"When used in the hands of Kuen-Jie, then yes, you can say it is evil." Syaoran sighed with exasperation before continuing. "Because Kuen-Jie wants you out of his way. He wants the cards for himself. As my mother explained, he is hungry for power."

Sakura rested her chin on her knees and became lost in thought. There was another long moment of silence.

"So, why did you use Metal to destroy Fire? I don't get it." She asked suddenly. "Why couldn't I have just used WATERY? Also, why do you have a FIRE card too? I already have FIRERY. Do we really need two cards of the same element?" She through the questions at him quickly, while they were on her mind.

After a moment of thought, Syaoran explained, "Fire Sha is called Arrowed Sha, because it has the power to instantly kill its target. Arrowed Sha can be purified and turned back into Chi by using its elemental cure. Metal cures Arrowed Sha by reflecting it away from its target."

"Ohhhh…." Sakura spoke quietly, as she struggled to grasp the concept. "So, Sha isn't really the element." She wondered out loud.

"Fire Sha is arrowed , Metal Sha is disruptive, Wood Sha is fragmenting, Earth Sha is binding, and Water Sha is darkening." Syaoran told her. "Metal cures Arrowed Sha by reflecting it, Fire cures Darkening Sha with it's light, Water cures Binding Sha because it is ever flowing, Earth cures Fragmenting Sha by containing it, and Wood cures Disruptive Sha by absorbing the disruption.

"HOo….ee!!" Sakura exclaimed as her head began to hurt. It was too much information.

"It's basic Fung Shi," Syaoran stated, and couldn't help but to smile at her state of confusion.

"If you say so," She told him and shook her head as if trying to relieve herself of the headache.

They sat through another moment of silence, each distracted by their own thoughts.

"B…by the way," Syaoran said as he leaned down and reached for something under the coffee table. "Happy Birthday," He told her, handing a small wrapped package to her, it looked about the size of a picture.

"For me?" Sakura exclaimed with a cheerful smile, reaching for the gift. Syaoran nodded. "Can I open it?" she then asked, her eyes twinkling with excitement. Syaoran smiled and nodded again.

Sakura tore the wrapping paper to discover what the gift contained.

"It's a Bagua Mirror," Syaoran told her as she held up the red cord to dangle the gift in front of her. In the center of one side of the bagua there was a mirror. In the center of the other side was a tai ji tu. "Hang it at your bedroom window for protection" he instructed.

Sakura nearly tackled him with a hug, "You remembered!" She exclaimed. "Arigato!"

"Even if I had forgotten, Daidōji-san has been reminding me all month," Syaoran told her, returning the hug.

Sakura pulled back enough so that she could look into his eyes. They stare at one another for a moment. Syaoran's arms were held around her waist. Sakura was kneeling on the couch, and was partly lying against him after her tackle. Syaoran's head tilted as he began to lower his lips to hers. Sakura closed her eyes and leaned closer to him. The moment their lips touched a door opened from behind them. Sakura pushed herself away from Syaoran as though she had been burned and pulled the ends of the t-shirt that she wore around her knees. Syaoran sudden sat up straight.

"My….I'm so sorry. Am I interrupting something?" Eriol spoke from his bedroom door, looking at the couple with a glimmer of amusement in his eyes. "Ignore me," he told them. "I'm just heading for the bathroom." Eriol skirted around the edges of the room into the direction of the hall.

Sakura looked up to find Syaoran's gaze on her. "A…arigato," she told him quietly. "I…it's still really early. Maybe we should go back to sleep," she averted her eyes and moved her legs out from under her, making ready to stand and head back to his room. She was so flustered that her legs wobbled under her weight when she stood and she fell back into the couch. Syaoran caught her instinctively when she fell onto him. "G…gomen…" she stuttered in surprise with a feeble attempt to push herself back to her feet. Syaoran tightened his hold around her, however, and she found herself relaxing against him.

From the hall, Eriol watched the couple with a smile and quietly made his way back to his room in such a way as not to disturb them.

**To Be Continued**

**Author Note:** I hate doing these kind of episodes, because I always fear that everyone will just find them boring. However, they are usually necessairy for the plot. Next episode will continue with Sakura's birthday, and a few more explinations.

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	6. Episode 5:

**CCS-2: Card creators Sakura & Syaoran:**

_Episode 5:_

* * *

**Disclaimer:** _Cardcaptor Sakura_ is property of **CLAMP** I claim no rights to any of the original characters, only the idea for this storyline and any new characters I may have introduced for the purpose of building and continuing the storyline. ARIGATO!! (Thank the gods for copy & paste...)

Oye...I can't seem to keep away from this story. I am completely distracted by it. It's harder then hell to concentrate on my Midterms when all I want to do is write. I've finished one midterm at least. Tomorrow, though, I'll be kicking myself in the butt all day to get my second one done. I've got the next episode mostly plotted out also, and it's going to be difficult to concentrate on my midterm rather then writing the next episode. sigh Wow, this is crazy, I've never been this obsessed about writing before.

Well, I know a few of you were hoping to see a bit more romance between S&S, so I worked a little in. Hope it's to everyone's expectations. Enjoy!

* * *

Sakura's eyes fluttered open at the smell of breakfast. As her mind drifted into consciousness she became aware of the arms that were wrapped around her and the comforting beat of a heart against her ear. When her eyes came into focus, her gaze locked onto Syaoran's sleeping face. Not wishing to disturb him, she continued to lie in his arms as she recalled the events from earlier that morning, before the sun had rose above the horizon.

She remembered waking up in Syaoran's bed around 2:15ish in the morning. She recalled leaving his room to find him asleep on the couch. She had disturbed his sleep by reaching to brush the hair out of his face. They had talked; Syaoran had explained the basics of Fung Shi to her, though she wasn't sure that she understood most of it, and then he had given her birthday present to her. She was so excited that he had remembered her birthday and she pounced on him with a hug, which lead to a kiss, but Eriol had came out of his room at that moment to go to the bathroom.

Sakura remembered standing to return to his room to sleep, intending to let him go back to sleep on the couch. However, she had lost her balance and had fallen into his lap. When she tried to push herself up, he had continued to hold her.

She hadn't protested, and had allowed herself to relax against him. She had been partially lying in his lap. With her legs stretched out on the couch as she leaned against him with her head rested on his chest, over his heart. Neither one had spoken. With one hand around her waist, Syaoran had been running his other hand through her hair. Sakura remembered how it had a meditative sort of effect on her, all most as though it had turned her into Jell-O. The last thing she remembered was the touch of his lips to hers as he kissed her tenderly and the sound of his voice whispering, "Oyasumi, Sakura."

Sakura continued to watch him sleep with a smile. He looked adorable, she thought. She reached a hand up to brush lightly through his hair. It wouldn't stay out of his face. She could barely suppress a giggle as it feel back into place over his eyes. Hooking her arms around his neck, she pulled their faces closer to one another until her lips touched his.

Having been in a state between waking and dreaming Syaoran raised a hand up her back, through her hair to hold the back of her head. He pulled her closer and ran his tongue over her lips. Sakura gasp unexpectedly and Syaoran took advantage of her parted lips. At the moment his tongue touched to circle around hers, the doorbell rang causing them both to jump out of the kiss.

Syaoran continued to hold her in order to prevent her from falling backwards off of the couch when Wei came out of the kitchen to answer the door.

"Ohayo Sakura-san, Syaoran-sama," Wei smiled to them as he passed, but avoided eye contact as not to cause the young couple any more embarrassment. Wei had found them sleeping soundly on the couch when he woke that morning. Their innocence had brought a smile to his face, and with a fatherly sort of concern he had made sure to cover Sakura's legs to ensure she was decently covered. Syaoran's shirt hadn't been long enough to keep her panties covered while she slept.

After helping her to sit up, Syaoran straightened up in time to hear the voice of their early morning guest.

"Ohayo, Wei-san" Tomoyo said cheerfully as she stepped through the door and into the foyer area of the living room. "Ohayo Sakura-Chan, Li-kun!" She exclaimed with a smile. After removing her shoes she nearly pounced on Sakura with a present. "Happy Birthday, Sakura-chan!"

"Hoo…ee!!" Sakura exclaimed as Tomoyo landed on the couch beside her. Sakura would have barely had time to move out of the way of her best friend's pounce, if it wasn't for Syaoran quickly hooking an arm around her waist and pulling her closer to him.

"Ar….arigato, Tomoyo-chan…" Sakura stumbled over the words. Tomoyo sure was extra cheery this morning. "Should I open it now?" Sakura asked, looking down at the present that had been placed in her lap. Tomoyo nodded in anticipation.

Sakura opened her gift to reveal a white Kimono style babydoll dress patterned with cherry blossoms, with matching shoes and a hair ribbon. "Wow, Tomoyo-chan, it's beautiful!" she told her friend, and she meant it. For once, it was an outfit without too many frills.

Tomoyo grabbed Sakura's hand and pulled her to her feet. "To….Tomoyo!" Sakura squealed as the blanket dropped to the floor. She attempted to pull down the bottom of the shirt with only one hand as her best friend pulled her into the bathroom.

Syaoran sat partly in a daze over what had just happened before the blood crept up to his cheeks upon the comprehension of his mind that he had seen Sakura's panties.

Ten minutes later, Tomoyo pulled Sakura back out of the bathroom wearing the new dress. "I knew it!" Tomoyo was exclaiming happily as she twirled Sakura around in the living room for Syaoran and Eriol, who had come out of his room while the girls were in the bathroom, to see. Sakura flushed the color of red bean paste and held her arms up over her chest as though trying to hide something from their view.

"Sakura-Chan, stop that!" Tomoyo exclaimed as she attempted to pry Sakura's hands down to her side. "I knew you were trying to hide something after your last measurement! I was able to confirm it last night when I changed your clothes. You look lovely!!" Tomoyo twirled around her friend to her back, giving the guys a full frontal view, and held Sakura's arms down along her sides. "Isn't she Beautiful!!" Tomoyo exclaimed in excitement.

Sakura felt as if she might die of embarrassment. She closed her eyes and attempted to hide her face by dropping her chin to her collarbone. She had been attempting to hide her development for the past few months by wrapping her chest. Tomoyo had brought, hidden in her purse, an A cup bra that fit her perfectly.

Syaoran, though he had suspected, having hugged, held, and stroked her back on various occasions over the past few months, and this morning, was stunned. Not at her development, that wasn't what was affecting him. She looked absolutely beautiful in the dress that Tomoyo had made for her. He moved quickly to save her from the torment she seemed to be experiencing. As he stepped up to Sakura, Eriol followed suite.

"May I borrow your talent in the kitchen for a moment, Daidōji-san?' Eriol asked as he took hold of Tomoyo's arm and gently pulled her away from the scene.

"De….Demo," Tomoyo protested as she was pulled along, "Isn't Wei-san in there?"

Once Eriol had left the room with Tomoyo, Syaoran placed a hand under Sakura's chin to lift her gaze to his. Sakura had brought her hands up to hide her chest as soon as Tomoyo's hold had been freed from her arms. "You look beautiful," Syaoran spoke softly. "You shouldn't ever be ashamed of how you look," he said, gently stoking her cheek.

Sakura's offered a week smile and averted her eyes from his shyly. Taking a step closer to him to rest her forehead against his collarbone. He had grown about half an inch over the past few months himself.

Wei, who had heard the commotion from the kitchen, stepped up behind Sakura and wrapped a beautifully made Chinese style white woolen shawl around her shoulders. It was the birthday present that he had personally made for Syaoran-sama's fiancée.

Sakura jumped slightly before turning her head to see Wei's smile of concern. She stepped away from Syaoran enough to completely pull the shawl over her shoulders and button the single button to hold it in place. Looking down at herself, she felt a bit better, and not so conscious about her body. She completely turned to give Wei a cheerful smile before hugging him for the gift. "Domo Arigato, Wei-san. It's beautiful!" She told him.

"Sakura-CHAANN!!" Tomoyo cried, rushing out of the kitchen and pouncing on her friend with a tight hug. "You look so beautiful, Sakura-chan" Tomoyo said dreamily. "I wanted you to look beautiful on your birthday," Tomoyo said. "Because I thought that we could all go to see the Cherry Blossoms in Tokyo for your birthday today." She paused long enough for Sakura to nod her head. "Great! I spoke to Wei-san about it last night, he said he would make a picnic lunch for us to enjoy under the Cherry trees! After all, it's Sunday, so we don't have school today and the blossoms will start to fall soon, so we might not get another chance to go this year." Tomoyo finally concluded.

The group agreed to the plan, had a quick breakfast and left for Tokyo with the picnic lunch that Wei had prepared for them. "Wow, Wei-san sure prepared a lot of food!" Sakura exclaimed.

"That's because your father, brother, and Tsukishiro-san will be meeting us in Tokyo," Tomoyo explained.

"Wow, Tomoyo-chan, did you plan out my entire birthday?" Sakura said amazed.

Tomoyo smiled cheerfully and took Sakura's hand, squeezing it lightly. "I was happy to do it. Anything to make Sakura-Chan happy!" she exclaimed, kneeling on the floor of the family limosine infront of Sakura, stareing up at her adoringly. Sakura smiled cluelessly at her best friend.

The ride to Tokyo was fairly uneventful. Sakura sat between Syaoran and Tomoyo. Syaoran held one of her hands while Tomoyo held the other. Sakura didn't seem to think anything of it. To her it was perfectly natural to hold her boy friends hand and her best friends hand. Eriol observed from the seat across from the trio. This was another thing that he hadn't expected to occur. First was, Yukito and Touya followed by Sakura and Syaoran. Where, he wondered, would Tomoyo fall? The human heart was truly the most unpredictable.

They arrived to Tokyo within 20 minutes and were shortly after dropped off at their final destination, Ueno Park. After meeting up with Yukito, Touya, and Fukitaka-san at the information desk, the group left to do Hanami, Cherry Blossom viewing.

Tomoyo followed Sakura around with her video camera, Sakura pulled Syaoran along with her as she danced and twirled among the Cherry trees. Sakura then decided that she wanted to visit the Ueno zoo where she wanted to see the giant pandas and the historic tea ceremony house.

After their visit at the zoo, the group found a cherry tree away from many of the parks visitors under which they could have lunch. As they ate their Bentō, the group discussed where they would like to visit next.

"Lets go to Shinobazu pond!" Sakura exclaimed and turned suddenly to Syaoran. "Will you take me out on a boat?" her green eyes pleaded with him. How could he resist?

After gathering and discarding their lunch the group then walked to the boat house, where Yukito, Touya and Fukitaka rented a peddle boat large enough for the three of them. Eriol pulled Tomoyo along to rent their own row boat, leaving Sakura and Syaoran with some time to spend with one another in their own row boat.

As Eriol rowed out onto the pound, Tomoyo taped Sakura and Syaoran from afar. "It looks so romantic," Tomoyo exclaimed as she peered through her video camera. Syaoran had rowed with Sakura out into the lake, where they sat allowing the boat to drift on it's own. The couple sat facing one another with their hands joined between them, enjoying their moment of peace together. "Oh, I wish I knew what they were saying." Tomoyo pouted.

Eriol stopped rowing and observed the scene. Not of Syaoran and Sakura, but of Tomoyo. His thoughts wandered to Kaho, and he wondered about her for a moment, until Tomoyo's words broke into his thoughts. "Hiiragizawa-san, is everything ok?"

Returning to the present, Eriol smiled at her knowingly.

"N…nani?" Tomoyo asked uncomfortably

"The one who is in your heart," he began to say to her. "Don't you think that she is not your number one love? Your feelings are likely not to ever be returned. Or, do you wish to come between them?

Tomoyo looked at him, a little taken back. "I wouldn't ever do anything to make Sakura-chan unhappy!" she told him in a low tone before looking away. "Those two are destined to be together, I've known that all along. That doesn't mean that I have to stop loving her." She added quietly.

"Haven't you ever considered your own happiness?" Eriol asked, but any answer he may have received was broken by Syaoran's urgent voice.

"Sakura! Sakura, what's wrong! What's going on? SAKURA!!"

Everyone looked with alarm towards the boat where Sakura had been with Syaoran. She had disappeared, as if into thin air, as there wasn't even a ripple on the water's surface to suggest that she had fallen into the pond.

**To Be Continued**


	7. Episode 6:

**CCS-2: Card creators Sakura & Syaoran:**

_Episode 6:_

* * *

**Disclaimer:** _Cardcaptor Sakura_ is property of **CLAMP** I claim no rights to any of the original characters, only the idea for this storyline and any new characters I may have introduced for the purpose of building and continuing the storyline. ARIGATO!! (Thank the gods for copy & paste...)

Gomen Nasai, Minasan. I know I promised to have this episode up last night, but I had an obligation to attend and was distracted afterwards. I had an appointment early this morning, so I'm only now getting to posting this. Don't hate me, please.

I spent a lot of time and research on this episode and on episode 5. Ueno park and everything associating with it is real. No, I haven't actually been there, but I really wish that I could! I hope that everyone enjoys the episode. I'm plotting Episode 7, but it may take a few extra days whereas I have a holiday and a busy weekend coming up.

* * *

For her 13th birthday Sakura's best friend, Daidōji, Tomoyo, had set up an outing in Tokyo to Ueno Park to do "Hanami," Cherry Blossom viewing.

In the southern corner of the park lay Shinobazu pond, which was divided in three sections. One called Lotus Pond because of the plants that during the summer completely cover its surface, one called Cormorant Pond which lies within the limits of the Ueno Zoo and the third called Boat Pond from the rental boats it hosts.

Sakura and Syaoran sat together in a little rowboat that drifted with the water in the middle of "Boat Pond." Tomoyo and Eriol were in a separate rowboat, and though they were a distance away from Sakura and Syaoran, Tomoyo held her video camera in position to record "Sakura's Romantic Boat Ride." Touya, Yukito, and Fujitaka had rented a peddle boat large enough for the three of them and were elsewhere on the pond.

"That which is before her, is behind her."

Sakura heard from seemingly out of nowhere.

"That which is behind her, Is before her."

Sakura blinked and stare at Syaoran with a sudden look of surprise. It wasn't his voice. He wasn't even talking.

"That which is to the right of her is to the left of her."

Sakura looked around the lake, but there were no boats close enough that she would be able to hear someone speaking so clearly.

"Sakura?" She heard Syaoran say suddenly.

"That which is to the left of her is to the right of her."

Sakura began to panic as she was unable to locate the source of the voice.

"Sakura, What's Wrong?" Syaoran said with a hint of panic

"That which is above her, is below her."

"Syao…..Syaoran!?" Sakura's eyes were wide as she stare at him in panic.

"What's going on?" Syaoran exclaimed.

"That which is below her is above her."

"SAKURA!!" Syaoran yelled suddenly, making as though to grab for her, but he was stopped by an unseen force.

Sakura reached for her star key, which hung by a chain around her neck, in panic. "RELEASE!" She commanded.

"Where north meets south, she is not there.

Where east meets west, she is not there.

Where sky meets earth, she is not there.

She is as invisible as the air."

At that moment, she saw the source of the incantation. He stood behind Syaoran, holding Syaoran in place. Sakura's eyes went wide in recognition. "Y…you?!" She exclaimed with a mixture of surprise and panic.

"Quickly, use the TIME card, before it's too late!" The man who looked like an older version of Syaoran pleaded. Sakura stare at him in confusion. How did he know about the TIME card? Who was he? What was going on?

"Now, Sakura-san! I can only protect you for so long!" He begged her, struggling to keep hold of the real Syaoran who fought with all of his might to be freed.

"SAKURA!?" the real Syaoran yelled again.

Sakura caught the gaze of the older Syaoran look-a-like. His eyes were the same as Syaoran's. "TIME!" She commanded, and everything around her froze as time was stopped, including Eriol, and Syaoran.

The older Syaoran look-a-like released his hold on Syaoran with relief. "Thank you, Sakura-san." He told her.

Sakura stare at the Syaoran look-a-like as though she were seeing a ghost. "W…who are you?" She stumbled over her words. "What do you want? Are you the one who is after the cards?"

The look of sadness in his eyes over her words brought a pang of guilt to her heart. "How can you think that I would hurt you? I have now saved you on two different occasions, Sakura-san." He told her in a quiet voice.

"Saved me?" Sakura exclaimed in surprise.

The older looking Syaoran pointed towards the banks of the pond. "He is here, and has been watching and waiting for a moment to attack."

"He?" Sakura asked, looking into the direction of which he was pointing. "He who?"

"Kuen-Jie." He answered. "Don't you see the astral shade?" He moved through the real Syaoran to kneel between the seats of the boat in front of her. Touching her hand, he pointed again and suddenly she was able to see it. With time frozen around them it appeared as a black aura as though it outlined where a person should be standing. "He uses Astral Projection to spy on you from a safe location. I was able to stop his plan to attack by casting the invisibility spell around you." He continued to explain.

"Demo….." Sakura was at a loss of words as she try to comprehend what she was being told.

"With the invisibility spell around you, no one and nothing can see you. That is, unless you touch them or they touch you." He explained to her. "I am sorry for having to restrain Syaoran-kun, but if he had touched you, the spell would have broken and Kuen-Jie would have discovered my magic.

Sakura stare at the man once again. "Who are you?" She asked again.

"I am an ally sent to protect you, Sakura-san." He answered with a smile. "For now, we don't have time to talk, TIME will return soon, and you need to take care of Kuen-Jie."

"HOo…ee?" Sakura exclaimed. "How do I do that?"

"Use the RETURN card to send him back to the beginning of the day." He suggested to her.

With a nod, Sakura did as he had instructed. "RETURN!" She commanded with the instructions he had suggested.

The older Syaoran reached a hand to her cheek and smiled. "Remember the invisibility spell, just replace the words "her" and "she" with "me." It may become useful in the future," he told her. Sakura nodded, feeling all "Hanyan" suddenly as a result of being so close to him. "I must go now, you are no longer in any danger," he said and bend to place a kiss on her forehead.

Go? Sakura wondered and stare at him in confusion. Go where, they were in the middle of a pond. "De….demo…" She exclaimed as she reached for his hand to stop him when he stood in the boat. To Sakura's surprise the boat didn't rock or show any signs of tipping under the uneven dispersment of weight. "Demo….who sent you?" She asked with a pleading look. She wondered if he planned to jump into the lake and swim to the banks.

Once again, he smiled down at her and brought a hand to her cheek. "Li, Yelan-sama." He spoke the name tenderly and suddenly vanished into thin air.

"SAKURA!!" Syaoran yelled, as time restarted, and lunged at her, having been about to grab for her previously when he saw her disappearing before his eyes. There was a sudden splash as they both toppled over the boat's edge and into the pond.

"HOo..ee!!" Sakura gasp as she came to the surface of the water.

"Sakura!" Syaoran was saying urgently when he surfaced behind he. "Are you ok!?" he exclaimed, pulling her against him as they buoyed in the water.

"SAKURA-CHAN!" Tomoyo called as Eriol rowed the boat towards them.

"SAKURA!" "SAKURA-CHAN!" "SAKURA-SAN!" Called a trio of voices as Touya, Yukito, and Fujitaka peddled towards them full speed ahead.

Sakura was lifted out of the water by Yukito and her father and set into the empty fourth seat of the peddle boat while Toyua glared at Syaoran. "What were you doing to my little sister!" Touya growled to Syaoran in annoyance.

"NOTHING!" Syaoran growled back. What in the world had happened? Syaoran wondered, and swam off towards the ponds banks in contemplation, knowing that Sakura was in safe hands and that Eriol had flipped the rowboat back over and was about to lead it back to the boat house.

Tomoyo was immediately on her phone contacting her "bodyguards" and instructing that they brought a change of clothes for Sakura & Syaoran.

Once everyone was back on dry land, Sakura shivered suddenly, bringing her brother's attention to her. Touya quickly stepped up behind his little sister and rubbed her arms vigerously. While the weather was nice enough not to have required that they wear jackets, it wasn't warm enough to be swimming. Syaoran was already wringing the water out of his shirt, which he had removed along with his shoes and socks. Sakura stare at him, a blush creeping into her cheeks. As a result of many years of martial arts training, though he was only a couple months shy of turning 13, he was well on his way to having a well-muscled torso. She hadn't ever seen him like this before, and it brought a sudden heat into her cheeks.

As though he had felt her eyes on him, Syaoran looked over to her. Sakura quickly turned her gaze away from him, greatful to find Tomoyo walking to her with a couple of towels that had been sent from the Boat House. "Ar….arigato, Tomoyo-Chan" Sakura said, accepting a towl and wrapping it around her body to ward off the slight chill in the air.

Tomoyo's ever observant eyes hadn't missed the scene, and neither had her video camera. She handed a towel to Syaoran as he approached the girls. "There should be a change of clothes here for both of you soon." She explained with a smile. Sakura nodded in response and seemed to be studying the ground, her cheeks still slightly flushed.

After returning the boats, Eriol inquired as to what had happened out on the pond. He was aware of the TIME card having been used and was surprised with the discovery that Sakura's magic had again increased, for he had been caught in the cards effect as well.

"Something happened?" Touya questioned in shock. Since he had given his powers to Yukito, magical matters now escaped his detection.

Everyone, including Fujitaka nodded in response. Though Fujitaka didn't have any of his previous life's magic, he had a way of just knowing when something wasn't right.

There was a sudden rush of women, dressed in black suits and sunglasses, in their direction. They were Tomoyo's "bodyguards." They presented a couple of shopping bags to Tomoyo and rushed away as quickly as they had come.

"I'm pretty sure that I saw some public bathrooms not far from here," Tomoyo said, handing one bag to Syaoran and pulling Sakura along to be changed out of her wet clothes.

Syaoran was the first to return to the group after changing. The clothes fit, which was all that really mattered to him. Tomoyo's "bodyguards" had bought Khaki shorts and a t-shirt containing the Ueno park logo for him. As he joined Sakura's father, brother, Yukito and Eriol, he found them theorizing about the earlier event on the pond. "We're just going to have to wait until Sakura gets back to know for sure," Eriol stated.

About 10 minutes later the guys spotted Sakura and Tomoyo finally heading towards them. "It's about time, Kaijuu!" Touya called in annoyance.

"Gomen, gomen…" Sakura said with a bow after glaring at her brother. Sakura dropped to sit on the ground next to Syaoran. Looking extremely comfortable in her change of clothes, she flashed a cheerful smile at him. Syaoran blinked and stare at her, she looked cute, in his opinion, no matter what she wore.

Tomoyo sat on the other side of Sakura, looking rather disappointed. She hadn't approved of the Khaki shorts and t-shirt that had been brought for Sakura to change into. In Tomoyo's opinion, it wasn't good enough for Sakura-Chan. However, she found that it would be worth it since she now had a chance to film Sakura and Syaoran in matching outfits. Tomoyo's mood changed with the flip of a coin as she pulled out her video camera.

"Now that we're settled," Eriol began to say. "Will you please explain what happened, Sakura-san?"

Sakura quickly recounted the events from the pond to the group.

"An Invisibility spell…." Eriol spoke his thoughts out loud, and appeared to be retreating into his memories for an explanation. "Can you repeat the spell?" He asked after a moment.

"That which is before me, is behind me

That which is behind me, is before me.

That which is to the right of me, is to the left of me,

That which is to the left of me, is to the right of me.

That which is above me, is below me.

That which is below me is above me.

Where north meets south, I am not there,

Where east meets west, I am not there.

Where sky meets earth, I am not there.

I am as invisible as the air."

Sakura repeated the incantation, replacing "her" and "she" with "me."

There was a sudden gasp among the group as Sakura suddenly appeared to vanish before their eyes. In a panic Syaoran reached for where she had been sitting. As his hand grabbed her arm she suddenly reappeared, sitting as though nothing had happened.

"N…nani?" Sakura exclaimed, wondering why Syaoran was suddenly so upset.

Eriol crossed his arms over his chest and nodded. It was as he thought. "That spell is one that Clow was taught during his many travels around the world," he explained. The group stared at him in disbelief. "You see, there is a trick to that spell. She isn't really disappearing. She was in the same spot all along," he continued. Touya and Syaoran raised an eyebrow in disbelief. The rest of the group stared at him blankly.

"After reciting that incantation, Sakura was, in effect, withdrawing her chi to a point where she became unnoticeable to everyone around her," Eriol explained with a sigh. "It can also be referred to as "folding space," he concluded. "You said that this older Syaoran look-a-like told you that Yelan-san sent him to protect you?" Eriol then asked Sakura.

Sakura nodded and watched as Eriol and Syaoran exchanged a look. "Why? Do you know who he is? I thought Yelan-san said that there wasn't anyone who looked like you in the Dynasty?" She addressed her question to Syaoran.

"There isn't…. anymore." Syaoran responded.

"It looks as if Yelan-san may have invoked an Ancestral Spirit." Eriol stated.

Sakura's face drained of blood, "Ancestral S…spirit?" She questioned. "As in…a… g…. ghost?!" She exclaimed with her hair standing on end.


	8. Episode 7:

**CCS-2: Cardcreators Sakura & Syaoran:**

_Episode 7:_

* * *

**Disclaimer:** _Cardcaptor Sakura_ is property of **CLAMP** I claim no rights to any of the original characters, only the idea for this storyline and any new characters I may have introduced for the purpose of building and continuing the storyline. ARIGATO!! (Thank the gods for copy & paste...)

I am SO SORRY for taking extra time to get this posted. To be honest, I've been having a hard time with it. I know what I want to happen and have it plotted out, but I'm having a hard time figuring out how to write it. Also, I'm behind on homework (had to take a little break from reading, which is why I wrote this episode tonight) and we also had a death in the family, so it's been sorta busy around here.

I know, this episode may seem a little Cliche, but please have faith in me and know that it will work into the storyline. I have the next two episodes planned out, but I really need to catch up on homework. OO Plus I'll be writing my next Chapter in my fanfic **Tomoyo's Desire** next. Figure I'd alternate between the two series.

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"Sakura, you're going to be late!" Kero yelled for what seemed to be the hundredth time at the mound in the middle of the bed completely covered by blankets.

A hand emerged from beneath the covers and quickly slapped the alarm silent before withdrawing back into hiding.

"Sakura, breakfast is ready!" Yelled her father up the stairs.

Sakura made no attempt to move, but remain curled up like a ball in the middle of her bed.

"Wakey wakey Sakura!" Kero taunted her as he began to pull the blankets away from her.

"Leave me alone!" She cried, grabbing onto the blankets and clinging to them. She moaned painfully and curled the blankets around her body.

Kero watched from the foot of the bed in concern. She was well known for sleeping in, but she wasn't usually this cranky in the mornings. "Are you feeling okay?" He questioned, flitting around her form with the attempt to find a corner of the blanket.

"Go Away!" She groaned again.

It was now the end of May. Sure, the weather had been cooler then usual for this time of the year, but it was far from being cold. Kero wondered how she wasn't sweltering under the blankets. "Sakura, what's wrong?" he asked more forcefully as another painful moan was muffled by the blankets.

Something was wrong with her, and Kero was becoming overly concerned about his Mistress. With a sudden flash of light a casing of feathery wings surrounded him to reveal his true form. Kerberos managed to nip enough of the blankets enclosed around his Mistress in his jaws, much like a lionness would carry her young, and yanked hard. The force of the blankets being pulled caused Sakura to spin in the air as they unfurled from around her.

Sakura screamed in surprise, finding herself flipping a few inches above her bed. She landed with a soft bounce and immediately curled up in agony.

"SAKURA!" Touya's yelled as he could be heard racing up the stares to her room. Touya pushed open the door to her room and rushed in, their father was quick to follow. "Sakura, what's wrong!?" both her brother and father inquired in panic, only to freeze at the site of Kerberos in his true form, the blankets still hanging from his jaws. Though they were starting to become use to Kero-chan fluttering around the house looking like a living stuffed animal, this was the first time either of them had seen his true form. They stare in disbelief at the winged lion standing before them looking rather sheepish.

Kerberos dropped the blankets to the floor and quickly reverted to his plushy form. "She was wrapped up in her blankets like a mummy, and it sounded like she was in pain," he tried to explain as the two men rushed to her bedside.

"Sakura-san, what's wrong? Do you not feel well?" Fujitaka asked his daughter in concern.

"You don't have a fever," Touya stated after placing a hand over her forehead.

Sakura groaned and clinched her stomach. "My stomach hurts," she complained. "Maybe it's from something I ate."

The other three occupants of the room exchanged looks of concern. "I ate the same thing you did, and I feel fine," Kero said.

"Talking stuffed animals don't count," Touya stated with a glare in Kero's direction.

"Maybe you should stay home for today," Fujitaka suggested, brushing his daughters hair away from her face.

"I can take care of her," Kero suggested.

"Yeah, if whatever you did with her blankets consists of taking care of her, I don't think she'll survive," Touya complained with another glare.

Kero and Touya continued to glare at one another.

"I…..just……want……to…..sleep….." Sakura said weakly, bringing their attention back to her.

"I'll stay home with her," Fujitaka said, placing the covers back over his daughter. "I'll contact the college to cancel my morning class. I should be able to make it for my evening class if you come home right away, Touya."

Touya nodded in understanding and followed his father out of the room. Kero fluttered after the men for breakfast.

Touya left for the college campus that morning on his motorcycle. Along the way, he picked up Yukito, explaining Sakura's condition.

"I hope she will be ok," Yukito said with worry, he could also feel his other self's concern flutter in his stomach.

After the morning bell had rung, signaling the start of classes, Tomoyo and Syaoran stare at Sakura's empty desk in concern. Where was she? They glanced at one another with eyes full of worry. It wasn't like Sakura not to be in class.

After breakfast, Kero returned to her room to watch over her, he didn't like not knowing what was going on with his Mistress. Could it be that Kuen-Jie was trying something again? He looked to her window where the Bagua mirror that the kid had given to her for her birthday hung. Surely Kuen-Jie was unable to get through it's protection, Kero hoped to himself.

Fujitaka checked on her a couple of times throughout the day. She seemed to sleep soundly, though occasionally she grimced in pain.

It was early afternoon when Sakura's eyes flew open and she clinched her stomach with a sharp cry of pain. She barely went unnoticed, though, as Kero pounded away at the video game controller in the latest attempt to beat his highest score. He was making too much racket by yelling at the television, and it was giving her a splitting headache. "Kero!" She yelled in frustration and agony. "Will you turn that thing Off!" She growled in annoyance.

Kero hadn't heard her, or if he had he wasn't paying attention. "Just a little more…." He was saying, staring intensely at the screen.

The sound of the game was turned up way too loud, or at least Sakura thought it was. It blazed in her ears and echoed through her mind, causing a splitting pain to shoot through her skull like a lightening bolt. Somehow, she managed to drag herself out of the bed and to the TV and game console, which she abruptly unplugged from the wall outlet.

"W…….wh…….What did you do THAT for!?" Cried a very frustrated and angry Kero. "Nooooo!! My high score!!" he wailed as if it were the end of the world.

"OUT!!" Sakura screamed to him, pointing at her door. "GET OUT!!"

Kero sobered up quickly and stare at his Mistress in disbelief. What was wrong with her? He wondered and quickly fluttered out of her room when she made a move suggesting that she might throw him out if he didn't hurry.

Sakura stood for a moment, hunched over, holding her stomach with one hand and her head with the other. Her bladder was screaming at her painfully for relief. She stumbled down the hall to the bathroom, and leaned against the inside of the door as she closed it behind her. She waited a moment for her dizzy spell to go away before moving to take care of her business.

Fujitaka sat at the kitchen table, his lecture notes spread over it's surface as he prepare for next months curriculum. He tried to stay ahead with his class planning. This way, he had his lectures planned out early and had time to prepare any exhibits he would be using for teaching aids.

He barely noticed Kero flutter through the kitchen door muttering to himself in anger. He jumped suddenly, sending a stack of papers flying onto the floor, upon hearing a blood curdling scream coming from up the stairs.


	9. Episode 8:

**CCS-2: Card creators Sakura & Syaoran:**

_Episode 8:_

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**Disclaimer:** _Cardcaptor Sakura_ is property of **CLAMP** I claim no rights to any of the original characters, only the idea for this storyline and any new characters I may have introduced for the purpose of building and continuing the storyline. ARIGATO!! (Thank the gods for copy & paste...)

Thank you, everyone! I love all of the reviews! I am Honored that everyone seems to like the story so much! I would like to expecially thank those of you who take the time to review every episode. It really means a lot and helps to keep me motivated, knowing that you all are waiting anxiously for the next chapter. All of you are the Best!

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Kero drifted down the stairs and into the kitchen. "What is her problem!" he mumbled and made his way to the refrigerator. He was grateful that he no longer had to stay confined to Sakura's room, since she had introduced her brother and her father to him as her "other guardian" aside from Yue/Yukito. While Sakura's father, whose soul was half of the reincarnation of Crow Reed, didn't have a problem accepting Kero as a member of the household. Her brother was another story. Touya had made it perfectly clear that if it weren't for Kero, Sakura wouldn't have ever been put in danger because of the cards. Due to this, Touya distrusted the "stuffed animal" as much as he use to dislike Syaoran.

A sudden ear piercing scream coming from the second floor, nearly caused Kero to close the refrigerator door on himself after he had let go of it in surprise. Likewise, Fujitaka had jumped up suddenly from the kitchen table, sending a stake of papers flying onto the floor.

"Sakura!" They both exclaimed in unison and were both heading up the stairs in a matter of half a second. Fujitaka swung open her bedroom door, expecting to find her there. Kero flew in a quick circle around the room in panic.

"Sakura!?" Kero called, flying back out the door, past Fujitaka, and into the hall. Where was she?

"Sakura-san!?" Fujitaka called for his daughter, closing the door to her room and quickly moving to open the next door.

"Sakura, Where are you?" Kero exclaimed in panic. There was no response from her.

Moving to the next door in the hall, Fujitaka suddenly froze as the handle to the bathroom door refused to turn. It was locked. "Sakura-san?" He called through the door. "Are you in there?" If she was, she didn't respond.

Kero was suddenly in his true form and standing ready by the door. "Look out, I'm knocking it down." Kero told Sakura's father.

"NO!" Sakura suddenly cried from the other side of the door. "Go away! Leave me alone!" She sobbed.

"What's wrong, Sakura-san?" Fujitaka asked in a quiet voice that was full of concern. "Are you ok?"

"Go away!" She cried again and there was a soft thud against the door as if something soft had been thrown against it.

Fujitaka and Kero exchanged a look of bewilderment. From the other side of the door water could be heard running.

"Sakura, if you don't open this door, I'm going to break it down!" Kero threatened, his eyes were wide with concern for his Mistress.

"Leave Me Alone!" Sakura screamed

Fujitaka placed a hand on Kero's back, silencing his next sentence before Kero could force the sound out of his open mouth. Kero watched in confusion as Sakura's father returned to her room. The sound of drawers opening and closing could be heard and he returned a few minutes later with a few articles of her clothing.

Fujitaka returned to the bathroom door. "I'll leave a change of clothes for you by the door," he said through the closed door. After laying the clothes on the floor, he motioned for Kero to follow as he turned to go back down the stairs where he quickly picked up the phone and dialed a number.

Kero reverted to his plushy self and hovered nearby, curious as to what the man was about to do.

"Ah, yes, Sonomi-kun," he spoke into the phone. "Hai….hai….please, this is about Sakura-san." He paused briefly.

"What's wrong with Sakura-Chan? Is she ok?" Sonomi asked through the receiver.

"Um….well…you see, I think that's complicated." Fujitaka replied nervously.

"How complicated? What's wrong with Sakura-Chan?" She asked urgently.

"I don't think it's something to discuss over the phone," he explained a bit bashfully. If his feelings were right about this, he was sure he would receive an ear full. "Please, Sonomi-kun, could you come over right away…..it's important?" he asked of her in conclusion.

"Well, because it's for Sakura-Chan, I'll be right there." She told him and instantly the phone was disconnected.

Sonomi? Kero wondered. Diadōji-san? Tomoyo's mother? Kero crossed his arms over his chest and stare at Fujitaka with his black beady eyes. "What is going on?" he asked the man in wonder.

Fujitaka regarded the flying stuffed animal with a slight smile before picking up a picture of his dearly departed wife. "She needs you now….I should have paid more attention. Sonomi-kun will be upset at me again." He spoke to the picture as if she could hear him.

Upstairs in the bathroom, Sakura sat in the bathtub with her knees drawn up to her chest. The water seemed to ease the pains in her stomach some. Not in her stomach, it was lower then that. She knew now what was going on. She had been through the class a couple of years ago. However, that didn't make her feel any better. She would be mortified to face her father and Touya would tease her endlessly now. And what about Syaoran? Tears began to weld up in her eyes again at the thought. Surely Syaoran would find her disgusting now and wouldn't want anything to do with her. With that thought, she started to sob again; unaware of the transparent arms surrounding her, wishing to offer some comfort.

Almost in record time, less then 10 minutes after he had called, Sonomi was at the door. Kero retreated quickly out of sight as Fujitaka showed her into the house.

"Now, what's going on?" Sonomi asked instantly. "What's wrong with Sakura-Chan? Isn't she in school?"

Fujitaka shook his head, indicating that Sakura was not at school. "She…." He stumbled over his tongue, unable to get the words out of his mouth. It would be admitting the inevitable to himself that his little girl was growing up. Ah Kami-sama, why hadn't he realized it sooner.

"She what?" Sonomi was getting annoyed. "Sensei, explain!"

"She needs a woman to confide in…." He managed to confess. "I…wasn't paying attention to the signs."

Sonomi's eyes went wide upon sudden realization of what he was referring to. "Ah! Kami! Haven't you ever talked to her about that!? Sensei!" Sonomi chastised him in disbelief. "Where is she?" She asked with a mixture of concern and panic.

"She's locked herself in the bathroom," Fujitaka said, looking away from her in shame. This wasn't something that a father normally had to worry about.….

Sonomi charged up the stairs and after a few tries, found the bathroom door. "Sakura-chan?" She asked through the door. "Please let me in, Sakura-chan?" she pleaded with concern. Sonomi heard movement from inside the bathroom, and after a few seconds the door was slowly opened to reveal Sakura standing with a towel wrapped around herself, bloodshot eyes and a tear-streaked face.

After the woman had disappeared up the stairs Kero flew out of the kitchen. "You weren't paying attention to what?" He asked Sakura's father. "Why does Sakura need a woman to confide in? What's wrong with Sakura?" Kero asked urgently.

"There are a lot of changes going on with Sakura-san right now," Fujitaka stated with a hint of sadness as he walked into the kitchen to pick up the papers that he had knocked to the floor earlier.

Kero watched him with uncertainty. What in the world was happening to his Mistress!? He wondered to himself in agony.

Fujitaka attempted to force his attention back to his class curriculum while Kero fluttered back upstairs. He hovered by the bathroom door, hoping to overhear some of what was going on. He could hear Sakura crying, which made him anxious.

"Would you like to come stay with Tomoyo-chan and I for a few days?" Sonomi asked.

Since Kero was unable to see her through the closed door, he assumed she had nodded yes after hearing Sonomi say, "Ok, lets go."

Kero barely made it into hiding when Sonomi stepped out of the bathroom with a timid looking Sakura.

"Sensei, I'm taking Sakura-chan home with me for a few days," Sonomi announced as they descended the stairs.

Fujitaka watched from the kitchen doorway as Sakura stopped on the bottom step. She wore the cloths that he had pulled out for her and laid by the bathroom door. She kept her eyes focused on the floor. Inwardly he slapped himself for not being more observant.

Sonomi ushered Sakura out the door without another word. Fujitaka watched from the door as the two women stepped into the limousine and the limousine pulled away.

Fujitaka returned to his paperwork with the attempt to concentrate on his teaching plan, knowing that Sakura would be in good hands.

A couple of hours later, Fujitaka's intense concentration was interrupted when Touya returned home. He did not return alone, however, and the foyer echoed with a combination of voices. Fujitaka recognized the voices of Yukito, Tomoyo, and Syaoran. Everyone was worried about Sakura, it seemed. He started to gather up the papers that lay across the table.

Touya lead the group up the stairs to Sakura's room, only to be surprised upon the discovery that she wasn't there. Now that he thought about it, he didn't recall seeing her shoes in the foyer. He exchanged a look of confusion with Yukito and lead the group back down the stairs. "Otousan!" He called half way down. "Otousan, where's Sakura?"

Fujitaka appeared in the doorway to the kitchen with a stack of papers in hand. "Konnichiwa, Tomoyo-chan, Syaoran-kun." He greeted the younger two of the group with a smile. "I'm afraid Sakura-san isn't here, she left with your mother a couple of hours ago," he explained to Tomoyo.

"Okasan?" Tomoyo repeated a little surprised and exchanged a look of confusion with Syaoran.

"Arigatou!" both Tomoyo and Syaoran said in unison with a bow before returning to the door for their shoes.

"We'll be going now," Tomoyo said as she stepped through the door that Syaoran held open expectantly.

Touya watched his father return the stack of papers to his briefcase and waited expectantly for an explanation. Why was Sakura with Daidōji-san? She had seemed to be really ill that morning.

"Is Sakura-chan ok?" Yukito broke the silence with his question. It had been all that he could do to contain Yue throughout the day from emerging and rushing to Sakura's side in worry. His other self acted tough and uncaring, but being that they shared the same body, Yukito know how deeply Yue cared for his Mistress. Yukito himself was worried about her as well. She was like a little sister to him.

"She is going through…" He paused for a brief second, looking for the right words, "changes that we can't help her with." Fujitaka glanced longingly at the picture of Nadeshiko**. **"Sonomi-kun is the closest person she has to substitute as a mother figure for her."

Touya blinked and suddenly went pale as the realization hit him. He supposed he would have to stop teasing her so much. Yet, no matter what, she would always be his little sister.

"Sakura-chan has become a young woman," Yukito stated, more to his other self who was demanding for an explination. Yukito supposed that it couldn't be helped, even if Yue was suppose to have access to all of Yukito's knowledge. After all, Yue and Kero were both magically created by Clow Reed. Clow had likely neglected to explain the basics of the human reproductive system to the guardians, who surely weren't able to reproduce.

Tomoyo was on the phone as soon as she and Syaoran stepped through the door. In the matter of a few minutes a Limousine pulled up beside the two friends, who had been waiting impatiently in front of Sakura's home. They climbed into the vehicle, both sitting anxiously as it sped away to the Daidōji residence.

Tomoyo tried to call Sakura's cell phone for what was probably the millionth time in that one day, with no avail. She then tried her own home number. "Moshi moshi, Daidōji residence," Answered their maid.

"Are Okasan and Sakura-chan there?" Tomoyo asked urgently.

"Gomen, Tomoyo-san, they are not back yet."

"Arigatou!" Tomoyo said, disconnecting the line.

Syaoran watched her expectantly. "Surely, if she is with your mother then she is all right." He said, more as though trying to convience himself that his girlfriend was safe.

Tomoyo's limousine pulled up at the same time as her mothers. Both Syaoran and Tomoyo jumped out of their vehicle and rushed to the other.

"Okasan!" Tomoyo exclaimed as her mother was the first to step out of the vehicle. "Is Sakura-chan okay?"

Inside the vehicle, Sakura sat anxiously wringing her hands. She wasn't ready to face Syaoran. She felt as if she would die if she had to at that moment. In a panic, she pushed open the door on the other side of the vehicle and fled into the house for refuge.

"Sakura!?" She heard Syaoran call after her in concern.


	10. Episode 9:

**CCS-2: Card creators Sakura & Syaoran:**

_Episode 9:_

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**Disclaimer:** _Cardcaptor Sakura_ is property of **CLAMP** I claim no rights to any of the original characters, only the idea for this storyline and any new characters I may have introduced for the purpose of building and continuing the storyline. ARIGATO!! (Thank the gods for copy & paste...)

OMG's, I am OBSESSED with these stories. I am again behind with my homework. It is due tomorrow and I haven't even started it! However, I couldn't concentrate on anything besides this chapter. Especially since so many people seemed confused by the last few chapters. I'm sorry, I thought it was obvious, but for anyone who is still confused, yes, Sakura started her Period. There, I said it and spelled it out. Also, I noticed I didn't receive as many reviews on the last few chapters. I wasn't sure if the subject freaked a few of my readers out. Especially if I have any male readers, and I wanted to get the next chapter posted to continue the storyline.

This chapter also took so long because I was trying to get Syaoran's reaction right, through interviewing a few of my guy friends and through how I thought he might act due to his personality in the series/manga/movies. Hope it's satisfactory to everyone.

Maybe now I can actually concentrate on my homework.

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"Sakura-Chan!" Tomoyo called after her as Sakura jumped out of the other side of the limousine and dashed into the Daidōji mansion. Tomoyo didn't hesitate to follow after her friend. Syaoran prepared to follow but was stopped abruptly by a hand on his shoulder.

"Li-kun," Tomoyo's mother said, as she stare in the direction the girls had fled.

"Nani?" He asked in annoyance, looking over his shoulder to where she stood partly behind him.

"You can't help her right now, it would be best if you went home." She told him, still watching the closed door of her home, which the girls had run through.

"De…demo?" Syaoran stumbled over the word with a mixture of confusion and anger. Why couldn't he go after his own girlfriend?

"She'll be fine. She's going through some things that she needs to figure out." Sonomi told him as she walked around him and took a moment to look down at him with a slight smile.

Syaoran was having a difficult time controlling his anger. "That's why I want to help her!" He glared at the woman blocking his path.

"There isn't anything you can do for her right now, except to wait until she is comfortable enough to approach you." Sonomi told him with narrowed eyes at his show of defiance. "If you truly care for her, you'll leave her be for a few days." She concluded.

Syaoran clinched his fists in anger and moved his gaze to the front door of the home. As much as he disliked it, he supposed he would have to leave everything up to Tomoyo-chan. "Fine!" He hissed under his breath and turned to leave. He would just have to call Tomoyo-chan later to find out what was going on.

Sonomi watched as Syaoran walked through the gate. She felt bad for him, but it wasn't her place to tell him what was going on. Everything would be all right; this was a natural process after all, she thought to herself before turning to follow the girls into the house.

Syaoran debated sneaking back onto the Diadōji residence grounds and into Tomoyo's room through her window in order to be sure for himself that Sakura was ok. Diadōji-san's words echoed through his head, however. "If you truly care for her, you'll leave her be for a few days." What was that about? He wondered in annoyance. With a sigh of exasperation, Syaoran headed home.

"How is Sakura-chan?" Eriol asked from his chair, where he sat reading a book, when Syaoran entered their apartment.

Syaoran blinked out of his thoughts to stare at his roommate for a moment. So many thoughts raced through his mind and he couldn't single any one in particular out for an answer. "I….. don't know," he finally said dryly, dropping his gaze and walking straight to his room.

Once in his room, Syaoran closed his door, dropped his bag, and fell back on his bed where he stare blankly up at the ceiling. His only thoughts were on his girlfriend. "Sakura, why are you hiding from me?" He spoke his thoughts out loud. It completely escaped his attention that, lying on his desk, the FIRE card glowed with a dark green aura.

Syaoran went through the routine motions of the evening. Snatching up his school bag, he attempted to concentrate on homework, but found that his mind kept wandering. Instead, he slipped around to the training room, managing to avoid both Eriol and Wei's questioning glances. When it was time for dinner and Wei managed to finally find him, he was in deep meditation.

It was nearly 8:00 when Syaoran finally came out of the training room. He headed first to the shower, and found his dinner waiting for him once he had showered and dressed. Wei had been watching and waiting for his young Master and had warmed his dinner promptly upon hearing the water being turned off from the shower.

With a quick regard of thanks, Syaoran ate and disappeared back into his room in order to call Tomoyo. Unfortunately he was greeted by her voice message. With a sigh of frustration he left a message and found himself once again staring at his ceiling. Eventually he drifted off to sleep, completely missing, due to his distraction, when his cards had slipped into his schoolbag.

The next morning, Syaoran was up early for his morning Tai Chi exercise with Wei, but instructed after that he would be leaving early for School. He hoped not only to leave before Eriol but to also be waiting at the Maple tree early for Sakura and Tomoyo. To his annoyance, though, Eriol met him by the door expectant of their early departure. To Syaoran's relief, they walked in silence and Eriol's knowing smile completely escaped his detection.

When they arrived at the Maple tree Eriol continued to class, as it was his morning for classroom duty. Syaoran settled under the tree and watched in the direction from which Tomoyo would be coming with Sakura. After about 15 minutes, which seemed more like an hour, he finally spotted them rounding a corner and was instantly to his feet.

Syaoran watched in confusion as Sakura suddenly froze upon the sight of him. Her cheerful smile suddenly disappeared and she averted her gaze quickly. Sakura said something to Tomoyo and quickly sprinted away towards the school.

"Ohayo, Li-kun!" Tomoyo exclaimed as she approached him. Syaoran hardly noticed as he stare after his girlfriend. What was going on? This was all starting to anger him.

"Nani?" he startled as Tomoyo started to wave a hand in front of his face. Her giggle annoyed him and he narrowed his eyes at her. "You mind filling me in?" He stated in frustration.

Tomoyo's mood changed instantly from cheerful to somber at the look in his eyes. "You honestly don't know?" Tomoyo sounded surprised.

"How could I?" Syaoran nearly yelled. "You didn't call me back last night. Didn't you get my message!?"

Tomoyo blinked, how could he be so dense? "I thought you had 4 older sisters," she stated calmly.

"What's that have to do with this?!" He yelled. He was now angry. What was up with all of the secrecy?

Tomoyo giggled and patted his shoulder. "She started, and it kind of freaked her out. Be nice to her, okay? Don't tease her about it, she's really afraid of what you'll think."

Syaoran blinked, his anger quickly changing to confusion. "Started? Started what?"

Tomoyo raised an eyebrow at him. "You really are dense sometimes Li-kun," she answered. "She started her monthly." She explained and couldn't suppress her laughter at his sudden look of shock followed quickly by embarrassment.

Syaoran spent a few seconds stammering nonsense as his face turned the color of red bean paste. He quickly looked away and ignored Tomoyo's laughter. So, that's why everyone was telling him to leave her alone for a few days, he thought as he started to head towards their class.

He and Tomoyo entered the classroom to discover that Sakura arrived yet. Not that Syaoran was really sure what to say to her. A mixture of thoughts went through his mind.

Sakura finally entered the class milliseconds before the bell and quickly went to her seat, going out of her way to completely avoid walking past or even looking at Syaoran. She smiled cheerfully at Tomoyo and explained something about Yukito coming to talk to her.

Syaoran could hardly concentrate on what was being taught. Why was she acting so shy with him? He wondered to himself in annoyance. What was the big deal? He was so lost in his thoughts that he jumped when Eriol leaned over to whisper something about his schoolbag. "Nani?" Syaoran muttered under his breath and looked down at his bag leaning against the legs of his desk. From something inside of it there came a green glow. He snatched up his bag in surprise and began to rummage through it. Thankfully, since his desk was the last in the row, no one else had noticed.

After a few seconds, Syaoran pulled out the METAL and FIRE cards. The FIRE card glowed with a dark green aura. Nani? He wondered. He didn't recall putting the cards in his bag, and why was FIRE glowing? He caught Eriol's gaze, who sat beside him smiling. Syaoran's eye twitched in annoyance. Why was he always smiling?

The lunch bell rang suddenly, causing Syaoran to jump out of his thoughts. He moved to place a hand on Sakura's shoulder only to find that she was no longer sitting. "Yukito invited me to lunch," she explained quickly before rushing out of the door. Syaoran stare after her blankly. She had moved so fast that he hadn't been able to get a word in.

"Come on," Eriol told him. "We have a few things to discuss." Syaoran looked to Eriol who was now standing. Eriol nodded towards the card that Syaoran tried to hide partly under his shirt.

Syaoran followed Eriol to a remote location on the school grounds where no one would interrupt them. "Your cards," Eriol began to say. "They use the powers of Fung Shi, do they not?"

"So it seems," Syaoran stated, pulling the cards out into the open to study them curiously.

"Fire cures….what?" Eriol question and appeared to go deep into thought.

"Fire cures Darkening Sha," Syaoran repeated matter-of-factly.

Eriol smiled, relieved that he plan was working. "And Darkening Sha is caused by what element?"

Syaoran looked at Eriol in slight annoyance. Why was he being quizzed about this? "Water," he stated with a glare.

Almost there, Eriol thought, think about it… "and what emotion is associated with Darkening Sha?" Eriol probed one last time, hoping Syaoran would finally realize it.

Syaoran raised an eyebrow, suddenly catching on to Eriol's tactics. "Fear…." He responded. Eriol nodded.

"If I'm remembering correctly, FIRE cures WATER by becoming a light in the darkness." Eriol stated.

Syaoran's eyes went wide with understanding. Sakura was afraid to face him for fear of how he would react to her. Because of her fear she had created Darkening Sha within herself. That's why his FIRE card was glowing… Fire cured Darkening Sha by filling the darkness with light. "SAKURA!" He exclaimed. He had to find her! Unfortunately, he didn't know where she had gone with Yukito for lunch.

The Lunch bell rang again before he was able to locate her and they were all back in class.

"Don't worry, we'll grab her at the end of the day," Eriol had told him.

The afternoon classes seemed to move at a turtles pace. When the final bell rang, he was ready and quickly grabbed Sakura's hand before she was able to even push her chair away from her desk.

Sakura froze and looked to Tomoyo with a pleading look. Thankfully, because Eriol had passed her a note, Tomoyo offered a cheerful smile but moved to block Sakura's path of escape.

Likewise, Eriol moved to block the second escape route. Seeing this, Sakura looked down in embarrassment. "G….gomen…ne…" She stammered to Syaoran. Syaoran merely handed her the FIRE card.

"N….nani?" She questioned, staring down at the card in confusion.

Syaoran was becoming annoying with how slowly their classmates were leaving.

"Nan da, What the?" Sakura finally looked at him to say.

Syaoran was relieved to finally see her emerald eyes. He offered a smile and indicated they should wait until the last person left the classroom.

Tomoyo distracted her with a hug. And when the final student left, Syaoran moved suddenly to her side, pulling her up into an embrace. "Baka," he said softly, scolding her on her silly embarrassment.

Sakura hugged him tightly in return, burring her face against his shoulder as it burned in embarrassment. She felt foolish for fearing his reaction. Even her Brother hadn't teased her during lunch.

"Daisuki, I love you" Syaoran told her, pulling out of the embrace enough to meet her gaze, and kiss her forehead.

Sakura smiled in relief, feeling a sudden rush of energy through her. Eriol pulled Tomoyo back a few feet as the magic circle cast under the couple. When the Light condensed around the couple, forming a green beam of light, a card was revealed above them.

Sakura looked up at the card with her cheerful smile as Syaoran brought it down for them to see. The name of the card was WATER, and pictured on the front was a dark blue dragon, almost black in color, and the symbol of a crescent lying as if it might be a bowl in which to fill with water.


	11. Episode 10:

**CCS-2: Card creators Sakura & Syaoran:**

_Episode 10:_

* * *

**Disclaimer:** _Cardcaptor Sakura_ is property of **CLAMP** I claim no rights to any of the original characters, only the idea for this storyline and any new characters I may have introduced for the purpose of building and continuing the storyline. ARIGATO!! (Thank the gods for copy & paste...)

This chapter is a little shorter then the others. It's really more of an introduction into the next phase of the story. It's also my attempt to bring this fic and my **Tomoyo's Desire** fic together. I have had a few readers curious as to if I'm a T/E fan and if they are suppose to be or end up together in this fic. Please allow me to clairify my idea on that concept. No, No, and No. They are acquaintances, and maybe even close friends. One of Eriol's jobs in this fic is to keep Tomoyo occupied, though as nothing remotely relating to a romantic relationship.

Well, here's a small taste of what's to come in future chapter. I hope you enjoy. So sorry it took so long to update. As I explained in **Tomoyo's Desire, **I had finals and my internet was temporarily down. Please don't forget to review.

* * *

Summer vacation would be starting in a few days. The group of friends was studying at Syaoran and Eriol's apartment. Eriol and Tomoyo were working on their English homework. Eriol found it strange studying English in a "foreign language" type of environment, but was impressed with the system. "How are you doing over there?" He asked Tomoyo, looking up from the paragraph he had just written in response to their reading assignment. Tomoyo didn't respond, she seemed to be staring blankly at her paper. Thinking that she might be stumped on a question, Eriol stood from his chair to inspect her work. Kneeling beside her at the coffee table he discovered that it wasn't her homework sitting on the table in front of her.

"Ahem," Eriol cleared his throat with the attempt to pull Tomoyo out of what he now realized to be a daydream. Tomoyo didn't respond. "That seems to be a very interesting answer, but I fail to see how it relates to the story," Eriol said, snatching the tablet from in front of her.

Tomoyo blinked out of her thoughts when the object of her attention was removed from her view. "Eriol!" She gasped and attempted to grab her sketchbook back from his grasp.

"Shame on you, Tomoyo-chan," he taunted while studying the sketch. "We're supposed to be doing homework."

"I've already finished my homework, Hiiragizawa-kun!" she stated, successfully retrieving her sketchbook.

"You've finished already?" Eriol questioned skeptically, eying her suspiciously.

"Hai, Hiiragizawa-kun," she stated matter-of-factly and pulled her book and assignment out of her school bag for his inspection.

Eriol quickly looked over her work and was impressed. She had even made a few points that he hadn't thought about. "Well then, what is that for?" he asked, returning his attention to the sketch that she was now adding some finishing touches to.

"It is a new outfit that I plan to make for Sakura-chan," she answered in a softer tone of voice.

"You're always doting on her," Eriol observed, bending for a closer look at the sketch again. To him it looked like nothing more than a summer dress.

Tomoyo smiled and went starry eyed before she spoke. "It is my way of loving her," she explained. "I pour all of my feelings into the clothes that she will wear with the hope that my love will always be with her."

"You are truly very selfless," Eriol complemented with friendly admiration.

Across the room, out of hearing range, Sakura and Syaoran sat at the table in the dining area of the main room. Syaoran was attempting to explain their math assignment to Sakura. Sakura felt as though her eyes had crossed after working with the numbers for so long.

"Why don't we take a small break," Syaoran suggested, sensing her frustration. Sakura nodded and stretched back in her chair. Syaoran stood to stretch as well. "How about something to drink," he recommended and started to head towards the kitchen.

Wei was busy preparing dinner when Syaoran stepped into the kitchen. As Syaoran headed to the refrigerator the phone rang. "I'll get it," he told Wei and picked up the receiver from the phone on the wall in the kitchen. "Moshi moshi," he answered. "Mother!" he spoke instantly in Chinese.

Back in the dining area of the main room, Sakura slid the screen door open and stepped out onto the veranda over looking the courtyard of the apartment complex. The light summer breeze rustled through her hair. The late afternoon sun wasn't as hot as it had been earlier in the day. Sakura watched a couple stroll on the path down in the courtyard. Her gaze then wandered across the variety of flowers planted in the beds below her. She did a double take at the tree in the center of the courtyard where she could swear she had seen someone sitting on one of the branches watching her. Could it have been Kuen-Jie, or was it Syaoran's ancestor spirit? Either way, she shivered visibly despite the warmth of the summer afternoon. After all, one guy wanted her dead and the other already WAS dead. Somebody's arms wrapping around her shoulder's caused her to jump.

"Are you okay?" Syaoran's concerned voice blew past her ear.

Sakura raised her hands up to his arms with a nod. "I…I just thought that I saw someone watching from that tree over there," she explained, with her gaze still upon the tree.

With her back to him, Sakura missed his look of concern. "Well, why don't you come back inside? I have something to talk to everyone about," he said, letting his arms drop from her shoulders and taking up one of her hands to gently pull her back into the apartment.

Tomoyo and Eriol were both sitting at the dining table with a glass of iced green tea. Syaoran lead Sakura to her chair, where her own glass of tea awaited her, and then returned to his seat beside her. After taking a drink from his glass he began to speak. "Mother called. She has invited everyone to stay at our home in Hong Kong over summer vacation," he explained.

"Really!?" Sakura exclaimed. "That's great! I had wanted to visit in Hong Kong again! We can see Meilin again, Tomoyo-chan!" Sakura grabbed Tomoyo's hand in excitement and smiled brightly at her.

Tomoyo squeezed Sakura's hand and returned the smile. "I can't go, but you'll tell her hello for me, wont you?"

"WHAT!? You can't go!?" Sakura instantly pouted.

"Gomen, gomen. Mom made plans to vacation in Paris, where she set up to take me to a live fashion show and to even interview some of the designers so that I can get an idea about the industry," Tomoyo explained.

"Really?" Sakura asked. Then seeing her friend's excitement about this opportunity to learn more about her dream career she smiled cheerfully. "That's great! You'll have so much fun! Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

"Because we always spend our summer vacation together and I was thinking of not going…"

"You better go! This will be a great opportunity for you! Besides, I want souvenirs from Paris!" Sakura cut her off to say.

"Well, since you'll be going with Li-kun to China, I wont have to worry about you being alone," Tomoyo concluded, masking her disappointment of not being able to ask Sakura to go with her to Paris as she had originally hoped.

Eriol eyed Tomoyo suspiciously, remembering that she had mentioned the fashion show in Paris months ago, and her hope that Sakura might go with her. Obviously Sakura had forgotten about it, with everything that had been happening with Kuen-Jie. Tomoyo, however, wasn't making a fuss about it, which lead him to stay silent. Again, Tomoyo was being very selfless. The human heart was certainly a mystery.


	12. Episode 11:

**CCS-2: Card creators Sakura & Syaoran:**

_Episode 11:_

* * *

**Disclaimer:** _Cardcaptor Sakura_ is property of **CLAMP** I claim no rights to any of the original characters, only the idea for this storyline and any new characters I may have introduced for the purpose of building and continuing the storyline. ARIGATO!! (Thank the gods for copy & paste...)

I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry! Please have mercy! I'm SO Sorry that it took so long to get this episode up. Forgive me. Please don't kill me. I'm at the mercy of my loyal readers.

It seemed like every time that I tried to sit down to write this episode, something or another would come up and pull me away from continuing at that moment. I was also doing a lot of research. Compared to my knowledge of Japan, my knowledge of China is very limited, so I had a lot to research regarding places and maps.

My next college term has also started. Unfortunately I wont be able to update as often as I was during last term. I'll try for an episode a week on either **CCS-2** or **Tomoyo's Desire**. It seems that I may have shocked most of my audience with my **Tomoyo's Desire **fic, however.

In any case, I hope that you enjoy. This episode is a little longer then most of the others have been up to this point. Please Review. I Love reviews. Give me your opinion. Is there anything that you would like to see happen? Is there anything that you don't understand? Did I not clarify something enough? Do I have a spelling/grammar mistake that I missed somewhere? Does something just not fit in your opinion and you're wondering how it fits with the storyline? I Love this kind of feedback. Just please, no flaming, because flamers will be ignored and deleted. Thank you.

Again, I'm sorry this is so late. Please have mercy!

* * *

Sakura stare out the window as the plane sped down the runway and began to lift into the sky. She watched as the objects on the ground became smaller and smaller. Her vision was obscured momentarily as the plane disappeared into the clouds upon its ascent.

It was a cloudy day in Japan, with the threat of rain. Sakura was grateful that they were taking an earlier flight then what had originally been planned. Yet, the aircraft felt somewhat imprisoning. As she stare into the grayish haze of the cloud, Sakura yearned to feel the wind on her face and rustling through her hair as it did when she used The FLY card. A sense of freedom came to her when she was magically flying.

She watched in awe as the brilliant blue sky came into view when the plane exited through the top of the clouds. The brightness of the day amazed her. Below the clouds the morning had been ominous and gloomy, while above the clouds the sun shone brightly making Sakura blink with momentary blindness.

Her attention was pulled away from the window when Syaoran gently squeezed her hand, which he had been holding rested on the armrest between their seats. They were on their way to Hong Kong for summer vacation. This would be her second trip to Hong Kong. The last time she had won the trip through a raffle at Twin Bells. During her last trip, she hadn't been able to do as much sight seeing as she had wanted because she had to battle against the Water Fortune Teller who had died before being able to tell Clow-san of her true feelings for him.

Eriol and Yukito sat in the two first class seats in front of her and Syaoran. Touya had been unable to get out of work on such short notice, and had insisted that Yukito go, being as his body was the host disguise for his little sister's guardian, Yue. Likewise, Fujitaka was away on an Archeological dig and Tomoyo was currently on her way to Paris, France with her Mother.

Eriol and Yukito were getting along well and chatting about "old times." Once Yukito had become aware of his other self and after Yue had started to open his memories to his host, Yukito had become interested in learning more about Clow Reed from one of Clow's direct reincarnations. Eriol's maturity level and vast array of knowledge provided endless conversation between them.

Sakura yawned and laid her head on Syaoran's shoulder. She had been up late packing at the last minute and hadn't slept much the night before. The flight would take roughly 4 ½ hours, just long enough to catch up on some sleep. Syaoran raised the armrest between their seats and placed an arm around her shoulders, allowing her to cuddle more comfortably against his chest as she drifted off to sleep.

Sakura mostly slept through the flight, waking only briefly when Syaoran positioned her against a pillow and reclined her seat so that she could lie back while she slept and he could be free to move around as needed.

"Preparing for arrival at Hong Kong International Airport. Please return your seats to their upright position and buckle your seat belts," a _Stewardess _spoke over the intercom, waking Sakura from her slumber.

Sakura yawned and stretched in her still reclined seat. Blinking open her eyes she found that Syaoran offered his hand to help her sit up. "Morning, Sunshine," he told her with a smile. "Did you sleep well?"

Taking his hand, Sakura pulled herself into a sitting position and raised the back of her seat. "I had a really strange dream," she answered while rubbing the sleep out of her eyes.

"Oh?" Syaoran asked curiously.

"I was flying somewhere. It was like someone was leading me to something…" she began to explain, trailing her sentence off as she looked out the window to view the scene as the plane began to descend. From her window it all most looked as though they would land on the water.

"That doesn't sound like much of a dream," Syaoran began, raising an eyebrow. "You ARE flying somewhere, and the plane is leading you to our destination."

"What?" Sakura turned away from the window to look at him in confusion. After a moment she recalled what she had started to tell him about the dream and shook her head. "No, no, that's not what I mean. I was flying, but I wasn't in the plane and I wasn't using the FLY card either. I was being lead through what looked like a shopping district. I think it was in Hong Kong, because there were a lot of people walking and most of them were wearing Chinese style clothing."

Syaoran stare at her blankly while he tried to make sense of the dream. "You didn't use the DREAM card, did you?" He asked in a serious tone.

"No, why?" Sakura asked uncertainly. "At least, I don't think I did," she added, reaching under the seat for her bag with the intention to search through her cards.

"I'm sure it wasn't anything serious and it doesn't sound like anything that could be harmful, so I'm sure it wasn't a foretelling dreaming," Syaoran stated. "We're just about to land, no point digging the cards out now," he concluded, stopping her from opening her bag and nodding towards the window.

Forgetting about the cards, Sakura turned her gaze out the window and together they watched as the plane landed.

"Will we take the ferry to the main land?" Sakura asked as the sea disappeared from her view. "It was so much fun, the last time we came here," she said cheerfully, remembering the boat ride they had taken to and from the airport during their last visit to Hong Kong.

"Probably not," Syaoran began to say. "Mom most likely sent a limousine to pick us up." Sakura pouted in her show of disappointment and returned her gaze out the window to watch as the plane drove to its gate. "I'm sure Mom wouldn't mind if we go out on our boat one day though," Syaoran concluded with the attempt to cheer her.

"You have a boat?" Sakura exclaimed in excitement, returning her gaze to Syaoran.

"Sure we do, they are at the marina," Syaoran explained, laughing slightly at her look of amazement.

"They?" Sakura questioned his choice of the word with wide eyes.

Another _Stewardess, _or maybe it was the same one as before, announced their arrival at the gate and began to give instructions regarding luggage pickup, continuing flights to other destinations, and the order in which the passengers would exit the aircraft. Thankfully, because they were in the first class cabin, they didn't have long to wait and were soon stepping into the terminal.

Sakura excused herself to the restroom. Syaoran waited for her while Yukito and Eriol went on to the baggage terminal. After using the facilities, Sakura washed her hands and splashed some cold water on her face. A reflection in the mirror caught her eye. It was a painting of bamboo and birds. The scene drew her in and she soon stood in front of the painting and study it intensely. Were her eyes playing tricks on her? She could swear that one of the bamboo leaves had moved. She blinked and rubbed at her eyes. Perhaps she was still a little sleepy, she thought to herself, and moved away from the painting unaware of the bamboo branch that began to creep down the wall from the painting. The door opening suddenly, as another woman entered the bathroom, restored the painting to normal and Sakura returned to the hall without suspicion.

"Ready?" Syaoran asked, taking her hand to guide her through the airport. Sakura nodded and allowed herself to be led to their destination.

After meeting up with Eriol and Yukito, they collected their luggage and located the limousine sent by Yelan to escort them home. In the back of the vehicle, Sakura stretched out on one of the seats and rested her head in Syaoran's lap. It was strange, but she felt as if she hadn't slept at all. The soothing feel of Syaoran's fingers running through her hair soon caused her to drift to sleep.

Sakura felt as though she had just fallen to sleep when Syaoran was gently shaking her awake to tell her that they had arrived. Sakura sat up to see the Li's mansion through the window. The Limousine door was opened and the chatter of excited females could be heard rushing towards them. Sakura was barely able to make it completely through the door when she was suddenly snatched into a hug by one of Syaoran's sisters. In a whirlwind of confusion she was quickly passed to another sister when the first reached for and pulled Syaoran out of the vehicle, followed by Yukito and Eriol. After the last sister had hugged and squealed over her, Sakura found herself free to stand on her own and catch her bearings as all four sisters glomped over their little brother, their cute little reincarnated ancestor, and the gorgeous man accompanying them.

Syaoran quickly managed to slip through his sisters and ushered Sakura towards the front door, leaving Yukito and Eriol behind to "deal" with the mob of females.

Yelan greeted them at the door. Syaoran quickly bowed in greeting. Yelan bent before Sakura and pulled her into a hug. "It is good to see you again, my dear," Yelan greeted and took Sakura's face between her hands to kiss her cheek. "Have you not been sleeping well?"

Sakura smiled cheerfully, "I'm okay, thank you for inviting us to spend our summer vacation here."

Yelan smiled warmly and gently stroked one of Sakura's cheeks before turning to her Son. "Show her to her room and let her rest for awhile," she instructed in Chinese.

Syaoran nodded and took Sakura's hand to lead her into the home as Yelan stood to go control her daughters.

Syaoran moved swiftly through the halls, wishing to put as much ground between them and his sisters as he could. Surely once their mother managed to pry them away from Eriol and Yukito they would look for Sakura, their "Oh so cute future sister-in-law." Sakura was having a hard time keeping up with his pace and tripped over her own feet in her exhaustion. Syaoran quickly moved to brace her as she stumbled forward. She looked up at him gratefully as she steadied her feet.

"You're really not acting like yourself," Syaoran observed and began to study her bloodshot eyes. "Are you coming down with something? After all of that sleep you look like you haven't had any," he concluded in concern before moving to lead her to the end of the hall and around the corner.

Sakura laughed his observation off cheerfully. "Maybe it's just getting close to that time of the month," she excused for her exhaustion.

Syaoran didn't seem to be convinced, and he wrapped an arm around her waist to lead her up the stairs. Once on the second floor he led her down the hall. He knew that his mother had set up the room next to his to be for her. She would be between his room and the room in which Yukito and Eriol would be sleeping. His mother had thought it would be best for Sakura's protection. Not that anyone outside of the dynasty could get through the protection spells placed over the house. There were to be no chances taken, though, since Kuen-Jie had originally been part of the elders and may know of ways around such protections. Even if they had been added after his betrayal.

Syaoran opened the door to her room and led her through the door. The room contained a reproduced antique Chinese daybed made of cherry wood with a matching bedside table, 7-drawer dresser with mirror, and armoire. At the foot of the bed sat an antique style Chinese stool with a pillow top. Sakura thought it looked like a perfect bed for Kero-chan. There was a single bay window in the room, which contained a window seat and a gorgeous view of the garden and a beautiful scroll painting on silk showing three cranes among peach trees that hung on the wall across from the bed.

Sakura wandered around the room, completely amazed by the furniture. Each piece held a traditional Chinese cut and design and it gave the room an elegant look. The bed was covered with pink bedding and pillows. There were more pillows on the bed then she had ever owned in her life. She wondered if there was even room on the bed for her to sleep. Syaoran watched as she acquainted herself with the room. He was amazed that his mother had managed to keep the décor simple. He had expected his sisters would add their own touches. Perhaps the dozens of pillows, ranging in color from pink to purple to green, had been their idea.

"What did your mom say to you before we left her?" Sakura suddenly remembered to ask. Since she would be marrying into a Chinese family she planned to work harder to learn Chinese, she had only caught the first few words of the sentence and was now curious to understand the rest.

Syaoran approached where she stood by the window. "Only to show you to your room so that you can rest." He translated. "She is worried about you, and so am I. Why don't you rest for a while? I'll wake you when it's time for dinner."

"I guess that I could. That bed does look super comfy, but I wonder if there's any room for me to sleep," Sakura replied with a giggle.

"I suspect my sisters had something to do with that," Syaoran stated in exasperation. "You'll just have to throw a few of them on the floor," he stated, and after walking to the bed began to clear the bed of about a dozen pillows.

"NO, Don't do that!" Sakura exclaimed in a sudden panic and rushed to gather the pillows from the floor. "They'll get dirty, and they are all so pretty!" She explained in the attempt to justify her reasoning. While the pillows were different colors, they were all also a different shape. One was a heart; another was a flower, there was a circle, a square, a sun, a moon, and a star, just to name a few. Syaoran watched in amusement as she gathered the pillows that he had thrown from the bed and placed them around the window seat in the bay window.

Syaoran approached her at the window as she fussed over how the pillows should be arranged. He gently turned her away from the window and led her to the bed. "There's room for you now," he pointed out and encouraged her to lie down.

Sakura sat down on the edge of the bed and smiled up at him. "You're so sweet to me, thank you for worrying. I'm sure I'll be fine after a little nap."

Syaoran returned her smile and bent to kiss her lips tenderly. "I'll wake you for dinner. Rest well," he said and turned to leave the room. Syaoran walked back down the hall and down the stairs where he merely had to follow the sound of his sisters cooing and giggling over what he assumed were Eriol and Yukito.

Everyone went silent when he entered into the room. The silence was even more deafening then his sisters could be at their loudest moments. Syaoran froze in the doorway; his immediately scanned the room for potential danger as his instinct insisted that something wasn't right.

Yelan stood from where she sat across the room from where her daughters had been mentally molesting Yukito and Eriol and motioned for Syaoran to come into the room and sit beside her. "Tell me everything about your trip," she instructed. "Did anything unusual happen? Tell me everything, no matter how insignificant you believe it to be."

Syaoran sat beside his mother and thought about the events circling around their trip. He was about to shake his head when his mother's look insisted that he think harder.

"Sakura seems to be more tired then she usually is. Has she been having trouble sleeping?" Yelan suggested to her son.

"She slept during the entire flight and way here from the airport," Syaoran answered her.

"Yet she looks like she hasn't slept for days," Yelan stated, more to herself then to her son. "Did anything happen to her during that time?"

Again, Syaoran thought back to their flight. "She mentioned having a dream," he remembered.

"What kind of dream?" Yelan asked urgently. Eriol slipped away from his female descendants and sat in a chair closer to the conversation between the mother and son.

"She said she was flying somewhere and that someone seemed to be leading her to something," Syaoran explained, thinking better then to say that she HAD been flying somewhere, to Hong Kong, and that something WAS leading her somewhere, the airplane, so he hadn't thought much of it.

Yelan's eyes suddenly went dark and she exchanged a look with Eriol who nodded some sort of silent agreement.

"What?" Syaoran questioned nervously as he look back and forth between them.

"It might be as I suspected," Yelan began to say. "That Kuen-Jie may attempt to make a move while she is here, in China, on what is familiar ground to him. I also suspect that he may have actually succeeded in contacting with her through Astral Projection."

"WHAT?" Syaoran repeated more forcefully in a dangerously dark undertone. His eyes narrowed and glared at Eriol in expectation of an explanation.

"It is possible that Kuen-Jie managed to pull Sakura into astrally projecting herself while she was sleeping and that he may have been attempting to lead her somewhere," Eriol explained.

"Why? How? Is that even possible?" Syaoran spattered out in succession.

"While China may be familiar ground for him, Kuen-Jie also knows that it will be harder to get to her here because of the amount of protections that will be or have already been placed around her. He will have to figure some indirect way of getting to her. Eriol has kept me informed of the incidents that have occurred in Japan and how he has formed the theory that Kuen-Jie is using Astral Projection to attack from a safe distance." Yelan explained to her son and reincarnated ancestor. Yukito had also managed to free himself from the clutches of the Li-sister quartet, by changing into Yue and now listened intently to the conversation. Kero, who had been forced to ride in a cat carrier from Japan had been brooding over having to ride in the cargo department and was now somewhere out in the garden enjoying his freedom to wander and or transform at will.

"That Kuen-Jie has been using Astral Projection has also been confirmed to me by one other, who I have asked to protect Sakura-chan," Yelan continued and admitted. "Your father," she answered to Syaoran's questioning glance.

"So, then young man who looks like Syaoran and who has been helping Sakura from time to time actually was an ancestral spirit as I had suspected," Eriol concluded.

Yelan's eyes became glossy for a moment, as all she could do was nod in response to his suspicions. "He would have been 30 in a couple of months if he hadn't have died, but he always looked so much younger," she managed to explain after a moment.

"How can Sakura be forced to astral project, and why would it cause her to be so tired?" Syaoran broke the silence of the moment to ask. His concern at the moment was only for Sakura.

"If her spirit is willing, it can be encouraged and sometimes even pulled into Astral Projection. While you Astral Project, though your physical body may be resting, your spirit cannot. Though she may have physically been sleeping and her body may have gotten plenty of rest, the exhaustion of her spirit once it has returned to the body makes it feel as if she hadn't slept at all," Eriol answered.

"So, Kuen-Jie basically has access to her whenever he wants through Astral Projection?" Syaoran asked in a panic, looking as though he might jump up and rush back to her room to ensure her safety.

"No, Kuen-Jie has limits. There are barriers through which Kuen-Jie cannot enter even through Astral Projection. Barriers that have been magically set into place around Sakura's home, in Japan, and also around this estate," Yelan began to explain. "On the airplane, an unexpected place where Sakura might sleep, those barriers have not been placed. Therefore, Kuen-Jie was able to get through to her easily while she was sleeping during the flight here.

"And in the Limo?" Syaoran suggested

"No, not exactly. Because the Limousine is part of our property," she answered. "However, now that Sakura is safely arrived, there is no longer a reason to worry over the threat of the Astral Projection. I do want everyone to be on their guard for any other threatening sources, though, no matter how small or insignificant they may seem," Yelan concluded. Tonight, the elders will be joining us for a dinner party, as they all look forward to finally meeting the new mistress of the cards. It has not been determined whether Kuen-Jie still has any allies among the elders, so I wish everyone to stay on their guard. And Syaoran, tomorrow night will be a party to officially announce your engagement with Sakura. As the heir to the Li Dynasty this is part of your responsibility."

"I know Mother," Syaoran said with a heavy sigh.


	13. Episode 12:

**CCS-2: Card creators Sakura & Syaoran:**

_Episode 12:_

* * *

**Disclaimer:** _Cardcaptor Sakura_ is property of **CLAMP** I claim no rights to any of the original characters, only the idea for this storyline and any new characters I may have introduced for the purpose of building and continuing the storyline. ARIGATO!! (Thank the gods for copy & paste...)

Gomen...Gomen... For taking so long to update. I know many of you have been waiting for the next chapter. I'll try to get my butt in gear to get Episode 13 out much quicker.

Enjoy, please R&R! I Love Reviews!

* * *

Syaoran slipped silently into the spare room where Sakura was sleeping. Crossing the room to the traditional style Chinese daybed made of cherry wood he looked down at her sleeping form. She looked so peaceful, and after their flight to Hong Kong and the disturbance caused by Kuen-Jie he hated having to wake her.

"Time to wake up, Sleeping Beauty," he said while lightly brushing a strand of hair away from her face. The reference reminded him of the play they participated in during their 5th grade year, back when she was still collecting the Clow Cards. This time, however, the roles were reversed. She was the Sleeping Beauty and he had come to wake her.

Sakura remained sleeping peacefully, Syaoran's voice not having reached her conscious. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Syaoran gently stroked her cheek. "Sakura, it's time to wake up," he said a bit more forcefully. Still, she remained asleep, her eyes moving rapidly beneath her eyelids. With regret that he must wake her, Syaoran bent to kiss her lips, lightly sliding his hand down her arm in the process. A slight moan escaped from her lips and she turned to her side, facing him, but did not awaken.

Syaoran watched for a few moments as she hugged a pillow to her chest and sighed deeply, as though the physical contact had been a part of her dream. After brushing her hair back out of her face a second time, his hand momentarily lingering over the silky locks, Syaoran gently shook her shoulder. "Come on sleepy head, you need to wake up now," he spoke firmly near her ear.

Sakura groaned and rolled onto her other side, her back now to him. Syaoran sighed. This was getting to be troublesome. If he could, he would let her sleep, but his mother had reminded him that she might want to "freshen up" before the dinner party and that there was an outfit chosen for her to wear hanging in the armoire.

Sliding his arms carefully beneath her, Syaoran pulled her up into a sitting position on his lap. Sakura mumbled an inaudible protest and her head fell against his shoulder as she snuggled against him. Her breath against his neck sent a shiver up his spine. Syaoran stood quickly, lowering her feet to the floor. "It's time to wake up," He repeated while forcing her to walk and support most of her own weight. He kept an arm securely around her waist, preventing her from falling or from trying to crawl back into bed.

"Syaoran!" She whined as she stumbled to where he guided her to walk. "I was having a good dream," She whimpered while rubbing her eyes.

"Gomen ne, but Mom doesn't like for anyone to be late for dinner," Syaoran explained. "Especially a dinner party."

"Dinner party?" Sakura repeated and stare at him questioningly, praying that she had heard him wrong. "I thought that was tomorrow night?" She continued to ask.

"Well…" Syaoran stalled to find the right way to explain. "You see…" he began. "Tomorrow night is the engagement party, when they will officially announce our betrothal, but tonight Mom is having a dinner party with the elders who wish to meet you."

Sakura's eyes went wide with fright. "T…the elders?" She repeated, thankful that his arm was still around her waist, as her feet felt like they might give out beneath her. "Demo…they will meet me tomorrow at the engagement party. Can't they wait until then?

Syaoran pulled her into a hug with the attempt to calm her uncertainty. "Gomen ne, Sakura. Consider it a part of the formalities. They wish to give their approval and acceptance of their heirs future wife," he explained.

Sakura blushed deeply at his words. It seemed so strange to hear them spoken out loud in such a manner. They were only 13 after all. "S…so… I have to Im….press the elders?" She stuttered. "Why didn't you tell me sooner!?" She exclaimed, suddenly wide awake and pulled out of their embrace to stare at him in shock.

"I just found out myself," Syaoran explained apologetically and watched as she pulled completely out of his arms and rushed to her suitcase.

"I don't think that I have anything good enough to wear. Tomoyo-Chan only gave me an outfit for the engagement party!" Sakura panicked. "I can't wear the same outfit to two different events of such importance!"

Syaoran walked up behind her and lifted her off of the floor where she sat in front of her suitcase shifting through her clothes. He turned her around to face him and hugged her tightly. "Calm down, Mom already has an outfit for you. It's in the armoire," he explained. Sakura breathed a heavy sigh of relief against his shoulder and returned the hug. "Take a bath and get ready, I'm sure that either my Mother or my Sisters will come shortly to help you," he told her. "I have a few things to attend to before dinner, so I'll see you tonight," he concluded and kissed her cheek before leaving.

Sakura stare after him, completely amazed by the change in his stature. Here, in Hong Kong, he was the important heir to the Li Dynasty, not the carefree fun loving boy that she knew in Japan. It was her first time seeing some of the weight of his responsibility. The thought made her shudder. Were such high expectations going to be required from her, as his fiancée, she worried.

Forcing those thoughts out of her mind, she made her way to the bathroom that was joined to her room. It also joined to the spare room beside hers, where Yukito and Eriol would be sleeping. She stood in awe of the size of the bathtub, which included sprayer jets, the full mirror mounted on the wall above the triple sink vanity and the toilets. There were two of them. A normal toilet and a bidet, though she wasn't sure what the latter was.

Sakura found a fresh set of towels laid out on the sink vanity, and turned to fill the tub. She would enjoy the bath, she thought to herself.

Sakura was enjoying the soothing warmth of her bath and the relaxing pulsation of the spray jets when she heard a commotion coming from her room and suddenly her bathroom door opened. With a scream Sakura sat up to hide her female genitalia and folded her arms over her breasts.

Two of Syaoran's sisters walked into the bathroom without a care in the world that she was naked. "Oh, let me wash your back for you," Fanren stated while she sat on the edge of the tub and began to lather a washcloth with soap.

"Oh! No fair Fanren, you beat me too it!" Cried Fuutie. "I can wash your hair for you instead!" Fuutie told Sakura with a cheerful smile!

Sakura sat stunned and speechless in the bathtub as the two sisters fussed over her. How she managed to make it through the ordeal alive she didn't know. Surely luck was on her side that she didn't drown as Fuutie rinsed her hair and her cheeks burned dark over the idea of having Fanren wash her. She was now standing in front of the full sized mirror that covered the entire wall over the sink vanity. Fuutie was drying her hair with one towel while Fanren wrapped a second towel around her body. Sakura was then guided out of the bathroom and into her room.

Standing by a huge vanity that matched the other furniture in the room, Feimei and Siefa argued over hair ornaments that would match Sakura's dress. They stopped arguing instantly upon seeing Sakura being brought their way by Fanren and Fuutie.

"Oh my gods, she is SO CUTE!!" Both Feimei and Siefa squealed and rushed to Sakura's side.

Sakura's head spun from all of the attention while Feimei dressed her in the long Chinese style dress. The dress was a dark shade of green silk, sleeveless with a Mandarin collar and golden colored frog buttons but rather then fitting her form down her legs, it flared out slightly. Traditional stylized Chinese dragons were embroidered throughout the dress in a golden color.

Meanwhile, Seifa was busy at the task of brushing and styling her hair, which in the end was coiled up into double buns and held in place with ornate Chinese hairpins.

After Seifa had finished with Sakura's hair, the sister's stood back and admired their handiwork. This was the first moment that Sakura was allowed to breath without one of them being less then an inch away from her. She stared at her reflection in the vanity mirror and had to admit that they did a great job.

"She's So Cute!" The sisters exclaimed in excitement and looked like they might pounce on her if it wasn't for a sudden knock on the door.

Yelan walked into the room, immediately silencing the sisters and shooed her daughters out of the room. Sakura breathed a half-hearted sigh of relief. The sisters could be overbearing, yet Yelan demanded a certain regal kind of attention. Sakura suddenly remembered how everyone usually stood when Yelan came into the room and she quickly pushed herself up into a standing position.

"I hope their attention wasn't too much to handle," Yelan spoke about her daughters and approached Sakura.

"O…. only a little…." Sakura admitted shyly.

Yelan knelt down to Sakura's level and placed a soft hand under Sakura's chin to lift Sakura's eyes to her own. "You look lovely, and it appears that your nap was refreshing." Yelan noted closely that Sakura had gotten some much-needed sleep.

"Yes, thank you," Sakura answered in Chinese. She figured now was as good a time as any to work on her usage of the language. "Everything is lovely!" She then added with a cheerful smile.

Yelan returned the smile, pleased that Sakura was speaking in Chinese, though she didn't expect her to understand everything. "Has Xiao Lang explained things to you about tonight?" Yelan asked.

Sakura stare at her for a moment while Syaoran's true name registered in her mind. She had heard it before, but she wasn't use to hearing it. "A little," Sakura admitted in a shaky voice.

"Don't worry so much my dear," Yelan told her, touching Sakura's cheek lightly. "The elders already approve of you. You are the Mistress of the Cards. Any one who does not accept that fact, like Kuen-Jie, will not be forgiven." Yelan spoke reassuringly. "They wish to be the first outside of the immediate family to meet and to welcome you. It is not as scary as it seems."

Sakura nodded and forced herself to smile brightly. "I will do my best!" She exclaimed cheerfully.

Yelan smiled at Sakura fondly and rose to her full height. "Are you ready?" Yelan asked, reaching a hand out for Sakura to take. "I will escort you down to the hall, and you will see some of what is expected of my son."

Sakura stare up at the woman beside her in awe. It was hard for Sakura not to see the regal air surrounding her. She then took Yelan's offered hand and was lead to their destination.

Just when Sakura thought she could figure her way around the Li's mansion, Sakura suddenly found herself lost as Yelan led her down many halls, through more rooms then were contained in her home back in Japan, and around more corners then seemed possible to be in one house. In the end they stood before a set of huge double doors. A man waiting nearby opened the doors for their entry and Sakura was led into a huge training hall. The room seemed small and crowded, though, with the amount of people standing around the outer walls. In the center of the room, Syaoran was demonstrating the results of his training.

Sakura watched in amazement as Syaoran went through the many different martial arts forms and techniques that he had been working on perfecting while he was in Japan. Yelan explained that this was a part of the conditions set by the elders before they had allowed him to return to Japan. "He has improved magnificently, it seems that the elders are satisfied." Yelan told her.

Sakura watch Syaoran with pride until Yelan led her back out of the training hall. "He will finish soon, and it is not a good idea for you to turn into a distraction. Already I saw many of the elders who would have liked to meet you. But now is not the time." Yelan lead her down many more halls and around too many corners into a large room, which looked to be for the purpose of entertaining guests. There were comfortable chairs placed in groups throughout the edges of the room. In one corner stood a beautiful grand piano. The walls were decorated with a variety of traditional Chinese artwork. One that especially caught her eye was a picture of Bamboo and three Cranes. Yelan continued to lead her to a couple of chairs placed on either side of a table. The table held a cluster of tiles that contained many different designs. "Would you care to play a game of Mahjong while we await our guests?" Yelan asked, motioning to the seat on the other side of the table.

"If you'll teach me," Sakura answered, and sat opposite of the older woman.

About 10 minutes into the game a loud uproar distracted Sakura away from her turn and focused her attention on the entryway into the room. Kero, in his true form, was running at full speed through the archway and after spotting Sakura he came to a skidding stop behind his Mistress. "Save Me!" He cowered behind her chair.

Sakura didn't have time to figure out what was going on before Siefa and Feimei appeared seeming out of nowhere through the door. "Here kitty, kitty, kitty," They were calling out to Kero, whose tail could be spotted laying out from behind Sakura's chair. Siefa carried a large array of ribbons in every color imaginable and Feimei held a rather large brush menacingly in her hands. However, at the sight of their mother, the two girls instantly attempted to hide the instruments of Kero's torment behind their backs. "Mother…Little Sister…" They spoke in unison, trying to look innocent.

"Hey Siefa, Feimei, haven't you finished getting him ready yet?" Came a voice from the hall. "Fuutie and I finished with ours hours ago," Fanren exaggerated as she pulled an unwilling Yue through the archway and into the room.

Sakura could hardly contain her excitement as she jumped up from her chair and ran across the room into her guardian's unexpecting arms. "KAWAII!" Sakura squealed in excitement.

Yue turned three shades of red at the sight of his Mistress. His hair had been brushed and decorated with as many ribbons as Siefa tried to hide behind her back.

Fanren bumped suddenly into Fuutie as she entered the room, pulling Eriol along with her. He had managed to avoid being decorated with ribbons, but it still appeared that he had received the "spa treatment" as his features glistened like polished glass.

"Don't stand in the middle of the door Fuutie," Fanren was complaining before catching her mother's watchful gaze. "M…mother…" Fanren straightened her posture and dropped Eriol's hand as if she had been caught with her hands in the cookie jar. Fuutie immediate began to remove the ribbons from Yue's hair and Feimei passed the brush that she held behind her back to Siefa, who started to back out of the room to dispose of the items.

"I am glad to see both of the guardians have arrived," Yelan spoke, as she stood. "And my reincarnated ancestor as well."

Sakura stood to coax Kero out from behind the chair as the elders began to file into the room after Syaoran's demonstration of his forms was now ended. A few were talking among themselves about their satisfaction in their Heir's progress. Most came to notice Yue immediately, being as that he was rather hard not to notice with his long silver hair and angelic type wings. Yelan had already begun to approach Yue and was soon formally introducing him as one of Xiao Lang's fiancée's guardians.

Sakura forgot about coaxing Kero out from behind of the chair and practically joined him there. There were so many elders, 10 in all, who were currently gathered around Yue and Eriol. The sight was rather intimidating, and Sakura found herself gripping Kero around the neck and trying to hide behind his huge form. She found herself wishing more then anything that Syaoran would quickly join them, but realized that he was probably showering and changing after his performance.

To her relief Eriol engaged the elders in a debate after catching a glimpse of her attempt to hide in the corner. Though it wasn't long until Yelan returned to the Mahjong table to retrieve her and Kero for formal introductions.

There were so many names, Sakura could hardly remember a couple much less all ten. They were all very interested in learning about how she had originally found and scattered the cards, how Kero chose her to be a Cardcaptor and most importantly how Yue came to pass the final judgment and accept her as the new Card Mistress. To Sakura's surprise, they were very receptive of her and even spoke to her in Japanese, though they were especially thrilled with her attempts to converse in Chinese and were more then willing to help her with the language. Syaoran joined them just before dinner as they asked for a small demonstration of her use of the cards.

Sakura began nervously by asking Syaoran to turn out the lights and the sisters to draw the drapes. She then used The Glow to illuminate the darkened room and then proceeded to use Mirror and Illusion to reenact a few of her more interesting card captures or changes into Sakura cards. The elders were especially interested in this, and the explanation provided by Eriol as to why the cards needed to be changed from Clow Cards into Sakura Cards.

Shortly after the presentation they were all seated around the long dining room table and dinner was served. Sakura was asked many questions about her family and lifestyle back in Japan. Sakura was relieved when Eriol took over the explanation of how her father was also a reincarnation of Clow and how her brother's powers were surrendered to Yue. This made the elders even more receptive of her and especially more approving of the_betrothal_. Though the elders had been told most of this before, by Eriol, when Eriol accompanied Syaoran home after the incident with the sealed card, it seemed that her presence among them was further evidence as to the _validity of it all._

After dinner, and much encouragement for a show, Sakura was talked into using The Maze as the grand finale for the evening's entertainment.

In the end, each elder placed their blessings over her before leaving. To Sakura's surprise, the night had not been as horrible as she feared. A small pile of gifts was left for her, which she would open tomorrow. After all of the excitement and with as much magic that she had used for the purpose of entertainment, she wanted nothing more then to retire back to her spare room for the night. Yelan, seeing that she was exhausted, instructed Syaoran and the others to lead her to her room.

In the hall outside of the door to her room, Eriol and Yukito said goodnight and went to the room next to Sakura's that they would share. "There is a very comfy looking pillow top stool at the foot of my bed that would make an excellent bed for you," Sakura told Kero, who had reverted back into his plushy form. Kero yawned and fluttered into the room after the door was opened for him.

"See, that wasn't too bad, now was it?" Syaoran asked with a smile and reached to pull Sakura into a hug.

Sakura shook her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes with a muffled yawn. "Just very exhausting," she answered. "I don't know how I will make it through tomorrow night," she added.

"Well, then perhaps you should get to sleep," Syaoran suggested, keeping his hold around her and resting his head against hers, which was still lying against his shoulder.

"Mmm….good idea," She said, but made no effort to move. "Good night…."

"Oye, Sakura," He said, pulling apart and holding her out at arms length. "Don't you think your bed would be more comfortable," He said, and blushed suddenly after realizing what exactly he had just said.

"Mmmm?" Sakura moaned and rubbed at her eyes. "But…." She started to say, her face turning a dark crimson color at her thoughts.

Syaoran tilted his head and raised a thick brow. "What is it?" He asked

"Well….um….." Sakura looked down and twisted her hands together. "You see, there is a small problem."

Syaoran blinked in confusion and looked around the hall as if the problem had a form that needed to be addressed.

"You see….it's…..this….." Sakura spoke shyly, turning her back to him and pointing to the zipper in the back of her dress.


	14. Episode 13:

**CCS-2: Card creators Sakura & Syaoran:**

_Episode 13:_

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**Disclaimer:** _Cardcaptor Sakura_ is property of **CLAMP** I claim no rights to any of the original characters, only the idea for this storyline and any new characters I may have introduced for the purpose of building and continuing the storyline. ARIGATO!! (Thank the gods for copy & paste...)

Enjoy and please R&R

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Though she was awake, Sakura lay in her bed not wanting to get up. She had been drifting in and out of sleep most of the morning. She was awake when Eriol had been going about his morning routines in the bathroom, followed by Yukito. Sakura had laid in bed with her eyes closed listening to the sound of the water running in the shower and bathroom sink. She drifted back to sleep at some point when Yukito was taking a shower.

Sakura was brought back into consciousness when Kero fluttered over to check on her. He had placed a concerned paw over her forehead as if feeling for a fever. Sakura pretended to be asleep, and once Kero had formed the conclusion that she must still be tired from the night before, he left the room and she drifted back into a light sleep.

She was now lying on her side, facing the back of the daybed. She traced the ornate patterns carved into the cherry wood with her eyes, as her mind sifted through the events from the night before. Her cheeks began to radiate heat as she recalled her actions just before she had fallen asleep for the night.

The dress that she wore, the zipper had been very delicate and she knew that she would have a hard time reaching it. It was one of those types that you had to hold the material at the top while you pulled the zipper down. If she had been back home, in Japan, she wouldn't have had any problems at all about asking her father or brother to help. She hadn't thought it would be much of a problem to ask Syaoran to help, though she had been a bit embarrassed to do so.

After she had turned her back to him and pointed to her zipper, an awkward moment passed until he guided her into her room and turned back towards the door. She glanced at him from over her shoulder, thinking for a moment that he might leave. "Syaoran?" She had called to him. At the time she didn't understand why he was just standing there. He had jumped at the sound of her voice and proceeded to close the door. He then turned to approach her and she could tell that his cheeks were three shades darker then normal. "Syao….?" She started to say and began to turn to face him, but was stopped by his hand on her shoulder. Her heart began to pound suddenly, and she felt faint when, with a shaky hand, he took hold of the back of her collar with one hand and pulled the zipper down with the other. Crossing her hands over her chest, Sakura held the front of the dress to her but wobbled on her feet in an instant of dizziness. In the next moment, she was leaning back against him and Syaoran's arms had instinctively come around her waist to steady her. Sakura could feel his heart pounding against her back and his breath against her neck. Her stomach jolted into a knot. For a long moment he held her and seemed to be breathing in the scent of her hair, but in the blink of an eye he had let go of his hold on her, turned to open the door, and was closing the door behind him before she had the chance to turn around. In a state of confusion Sakura had removed her dress, hung it over the back of the vanity chair, and crawled into bed in just her bra and panties.

Sakura pounded her fists over her head in an attempt rid herself of her thoughts. How could she face him today? She pulled the covers up over her head and squeezed her eyes shut. Maybe she could just stay in bed all day and pretend to be sick.

At the sound of her bedroom door opening Sakura thought for sure that her heart had stopped. What if it was Syaoran? She clinched her blankets around her body and curled into a ball. It wasn't until someone placed a hand on her shoulder that she realized she had been holding her breath.

"Are you feeling okay my dear?" Yelan's voice came to her ears.

Sakura lowered the cover from her head and took in a gasp of air.

"What's wrong?" Yelan asked while sitting on the edge of the bed and placing a hand on Sakura's back. "Did something happen last night with my son?" She questioned.

Sakura turned to look up at the woman with wide eyes. "No! It's nothing like that!" She answered quickly.

"Are you sure about that?" Yelan looked down at her with knowing eyes and a motherly concern that was unfamiliar to Sakura. "My Son didn't try to force himself on you?"

Sakura sat up suddenly in a panic. "No! It's nothing like that! Syaoran wouldn't do something like that!" Sakura explained in a rush of words.

"Oh?" Yelan answered with a smile. "Then perhaps it is just that we asked too much of your magic usage last night?"

"Huh? No… Not really….." Sakura began to stammer. "Maybe a little…" Sakura sat up and swung her legs over the side of the bed. "I've slept in too late and taken advantage of your hospitality, I'm so sorry," She stated in a rush of words while pushing herself up off of the bed.

"It is quite okay, you have not taken advantage of anything my dear. I was simply worried about you. Why don't you get yourself dressed and come down for some brunch? Then you can open the gifts that were left for you last night." Yelan suggested before moving towards the door in order to leave so that Sakura could dress, as she was standing in her bra and panties.

Looking down at herself awkwardly, Sakura grabbed for the blanket on the bed and wrapped it around her body shyly. "I'm sorry, I was so tired last night I just slipped out of the dress and went to sleep," she exclaimed with a blush.

Yelan nodded and smiled before exiting the room. Sakura rushed to her suitcase and rummaged through her clothes until she found what she was looking for. A pair of dark blue jean shorts and a pink spaghetti strap tank top. She then rushed into the bathroom to dress and go about her morning routine. Sakura quickly brushed her hair, leaving it down, and grabbed a sunhat to carry with, just incase she decided to go for a walk in the garden later. Through the window the day looked to be sunny and hot.

While Sakura made her way through the halls of the mansion she pray that she wouldn't get lost, nor that she would run into Syaoran. After what could have turned into a very intimate display of affection last night, she wasn't sure how she would face him without feeling completely embarrassed. He had rushed out of the room so fast surely he was upset at her for something, though she wasn't sure what she had done.

By some miracle, Sakura managed to find her way into the dining room, where her brunch was waiting for her at the table. She was the only one in the huge room, which made her feel awkward, so she ate quickly and began to gather her empty dishes. She didn't make it more then a couple of steps away from the table, however, when a maid came to take the dishes from her and disappear back into the kitchen.

Sakura wondered what she would do now. She had honestly hoped to hide in the kitchen for a while where she could busy herself washing her dishes, but it was made clear to her that she wouldn't be doing such chores while she was there. After a couple moments of thought she remembered the small pile of gifts from the night before. As she walked out of the dining room and through the halls, she was grateful for the silence. Surely if Syaoran's sisters were around she wouldn't be able to hear herself think. More then likely they were off playing with Eriol, Yukito, and Kero-chan. Sakura easily found her way into the big entertainment room, after having memorized the route the night before, and found that the small pile of packages hadn't been moved. Walking to the table where the gifts were placed Sakura stare down at them and wondered whether or not it was really okay for her to open them. Surely it was, as Yelan had instructed that she could do so after she ate.

Sitting in a comfortable chair that sat beside the table, Sakura carefully set about the task of opening the gifts. There were 10…no, 11 of them. Sakura thought that a bit strange considering there had been 10 elders at the dinner party last night. Who, she wondered, was the 11th gift from? The other gifts had been; a set of hair pins, a beautiful Chinese fashioned dress that was red with gold embroidery at the seems with golden frog ties and a mandarin collar, a matching pair of slippers to go along with the dress, a matching golden necklace and earring set, a golden hand mirror with matching brush, a bottle of perfume, a calligraphy set, a book about the history of the Li Dynasty, a green silk pajama set and a mandarin style jacket. Sakura held the last gift in her hands and stare at it for a long moment. Who was the 11th gift from? Perhaps it was from Syaoran's mother or sisters? It was a long rectangle roughly the size of a pencil box. Sakura opened it to find a beautifully painted folding fan. Unfolding the fan to it's full size, no larger then an ordinary hand held fan, revealed a scene of a bamboo forest. Sakura tested the fan for a few moments, finding that it would work well to cool her on a hot afternoon outdoors. A sudden movement caught her eye and she startled at the sound of knocking on the frame of the archway.

"Kinomoto-San?" Called a familiar voice from the entryway.

"Meilin!" Sakura jumped up from the chair and raced across the room to embrace her friend. "It's been so long, we've been wondering how you were doing. We haven't heard from you at all. How are you?" Sakura asked one question after another.

"Ni hao!" Meilin greeted with a hug. "Dui bu qi, I'm sorry, I've been really busy. I'm glad to have been able to make time to come and visit with you before the party," she then explained.

"Oh, It's ok, I'm so glad to see you. Tomoyo went to France with her mother to see some famous fashion show and I was kind of lonely. I'm glad you came! What have you been doing with yourself?" Sakura guided her friend back to the table, where her gifts were neatly piled, and they sat in the chairs on either side facing one another.

"Oh, just normal school work," Meilin answered. "How would you like to go to town with me? I need to pick up a few things for tonight, you can help if you would like," she then asked. "We can catch up on the way to town and maybe stop for some ice cream."

"I'd love that! But I was told not to leave without Yukito and Kero. I'm not sure where they are at the moment though." Sakura explained.

"Then lets go look for them!" Meilin exclaimed, pulling Sakura by a hand. Sakura managed to grab her sunhat and new fan from the table before stumbling after her.

Sakura was relieved that Meilin knew her way around the mansion and amazed at how quickly they managed to find Yukito and Kero. Yukito had been hiding in the library and they found Kero hiding out by the fountain. Both had managed to escape from the sisters and were more then willing to accompany Sakura to town with Meilin.

"Where is my cousin?" Meilin asked, as they were about to leave. "He might like to come with also."

"Last I saw Syaoran-kun, he was leaving the library with Eriol." Yukito informed them.

"I saw the brat walking out into the garden when I came out to the fountain. He and Eriol seemed to be discussing something important." Kero added.

"Eriol is here too? That's funny, I didn't think Xiao Lang got along with Eriol that well," Meilin mentioned. "I guess they have become close since they have been roommates for so long now."

"Not really…" Sakura, Yukito, and Kero all said in unison.

"Then is something wrong?" Meilin questioned, startled by their response.

"No! Not at all, why would something be wrong?" Sakura exclaimed, quickly grabbing Meilin's hand and pulling her towards the streetcar that would take them towards town. "Hurry, before it leaves!" Sakura used as an excuse for her hastiness.

Sakura was embarrassed to admit that she and Syaoran had been so close last night and that she had somehow caused him to become upset with her, causing him to rush out of the room so suddenly. Surely everyone would yell at her if they knew.

Their trip into town was filled with catching up about school and a new boy that Meilin was interested in. It was somewhat nice, Sakura thought, not to have a conversation where everything centered on Kuen-Jie and what might happen next.

The girls pulled Yukito through a few boutiques before stopping for a quick lunch followed with ice cream. Sakura had become an expert about slipping food into her bag for Kero to keep him from complaining too loudly that he wanted to eat too.

It was when Meilin decided to take them down an alleyway as a short cut to their next destination that Sakura suddenly tripped over seemingly nothing. When she tried to pull her feet under her in order to stand, she found that they wouldn't separate.

"Na…. Nani??" She exclaimed. Yukito had stopped to offer a hand for support. When Sakura sat back to inspect her feet, as something continued to twist and tighten around and up her legs, a wave of panic washed over her face.

Instantly Yukito transformed into Yue and Kero was flying up and out of Sakura's bag wondering what the hold up was all about.

Around Sakura's legs, a flexible cord of bamboo was wrapping its way up to her waist. "What is this!?" Sakura exclaimed.

Kero transformed in another instant and was attempting to bit and claw at the vines as they entangled around Sakura's waist.

"Where is it coming from?" Yue hissed as he attempted to keep himself from being entangled by the vines that were know working their way around his feet and legs.

"Your pocket, Sakura-san. What's in your pocket?" Kero growled, now fighting as the vines also entangled him.

Sakura pulled the fan out of her picket, revealing a mass of bamboo vines running from it, as though the painted fabric had suddenly come to life. Instantly she dropped it, which left more room for the vines to overrun.

"Mei…. Meilin!" Sakura yelled, suddenly remembering her friend and fearing that the vines too were entangling her.

Meilin watched in horror and shame just out of reach of the entrapping mess unable to answer.

Not knowing what else to do, and unsure if it would even work, Sakura quickly released her star wand and called out for The Fire. The card, however, had little effect. Only enough that Kero had managed to pull free after clawing away at a group of enflamed vines. He flew up into the air and catching his Mistresses' shirt between his jaws attempted to pull her up out of the entanglement.

Likewise, Yue pulled away at a nearly charred vine and managed to pick the fan up from the ground. "Meilin, quickly, bring a bag!" He called to the only member of their group who remained free from the tangled mess of vines.

Meilin visibly struggled with her decision. Her hands were balled into fists at her sides and her face was lowered. Her eyes were squeezed shut and tears flooded down her cheeks. She shook violently, indecisively.

Sakura's tank top tore suddenly by Kero's pull of it with his powerful feline jaws, causing him to fly back into a wall.

Quickly the vines were exploding from the fan, which Yue still held, and imprisoned his body. Those same vines were nearly completely entangled around Sakura's form.

Kero ricocheted with his hind legs off of the wall and attempted to attack the mass of growth encasing his Mistress and her other guardian, only to have himself quickly overcome and tangled into the giant mass.

"Good work, my daughter," came a deep husky voice from the shadows of the alley. "I knew I could count on you to draw her away from all of the protection placed around her to no avail." Stepping into the light from behind Meilin, the man placed one hand on her shoulder while stoking his long, flowing white goatee with the other and stare down at Sakura with contempt.

Sakura, whose eyes could be seen through a slight opening in the encasement of vines stare from Meilin to the man behind her and back to Meilin in shock and horror. Meilin had betrayed her?

"I'm sorry," Meilin said under her breath with tears spilling from her eyes. "I…. I had no choice….."

* * *

**Author Notes:**

_(Hides behind Syaoran)_ Don't Kill me! I'll explain in the next chapter or 2.


	15. Episode 14:

CCS-2: Card creators Sakura & Syaoran

Episode 14:

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**Disclaimer:** _Cardcaptor Sakura_ is property of **CLAMP** I claim no rights to any of the original characters, only the idea for this storyline and any new characters I may have introduced for the purpose of building and continuing the storyline. ARIGATO!! (Thank the gods for copy & paste...)

**Author Note:** Gomen nasai, Dui bu qi, I'm SO SORRY!! FORGIVE ME!! I know that I promised to have this episode posted a week ago, but I discovered that my final project for one of my classes was due a week sooner that I expected. Also, my other computer fried, and all of my work was on it, so I had to start from scratch.

This week is my Final's week. I wanted to get this posted so that I could quit feeling guilty for making everyone wait and also so that I could concentrate on my finals without thinking about finishing this episode. Though no I'm just going to want to work on the next episode. Discipline...must learn discipline. Work first, play later. Oo

Anyway, I'm sorry about the wait. Please enjoy. I hope you'll find that it was worth the wait. R&R Please!

* * *

"Syaoran?!"

Syaoran startled out of his daze at the sound of his name. Eriol was standing in front of him with a hand grasping one of his shoulders as if he had been shaking him awake.

"Sakura!?" Syaoran spoke her name suddenly and urgently. "Where's Sakura?" He inquired to Eriol.

Eriol raised an eyebrow. "How would I know? You've been dragging me around all day in order to avoid her," Eriol reminded him.

Suddenly Syaoran regretted hiding from her. The feeling of uneasiness that had just suddenly enveloped him was far worse then the embarrassment of facing her after their close encounter of intimacy last night.

Eriol narrowed his eyes in concern while he watched Syaoran's face drain of color.

"I have to find her!" Syaoran exclaimed and turned on his heals to rush back towards the house.

"Sakura!" Syaoran called as he entered the house. When he didn't receive a response he sped up to her room.

After the inspection of her room revealed her absence he rushed back down the stairs to check the kitchen, dining room, sitting room, and recreational room. Syaoran's panic rose as his search came to no avail. "Have you seen Sakura!?" He asked his sisters upon finding all four of them in the recreation room.

"Cute little sister?" "Sakura?" The sisters stare from on another to their little brother with blank expressions. "No," "Not yet," "I heard she was sleeping in," "She was pretty exhausted after last night," the sisters began to answer together and then continued to talk amongst themselves about Sakura's absence.

Syaoran let out a sigh of exasperation and noted that Sakura's gifts from the elders had been opened.

"It appears that Yukito and Kero are missing as well," Eriol explained upon entering the room after having searched the library and garden.

"Well, they have to be around here somewhere. I doubt they went out by themselves," Syaoran prayed that he was right. "Could everyone continue to search? Where is mother?"

They all split into separate directions to continue the search through the mansion and surrounding lands. Gathering back into the recreation room about 20 minutes later, joined by Yelan, they resorted to other methods of discovery to locate the missing trio.

Syaoran attempted to use the "Clow compass," which had always continued to work in finding the cards, even after they had been turned into Sakura cards.

Eriol and Yelan attempted to scry, first separately and then together. Though still they found no lead.

"Some sort of magic is blocking us from finding a trace," Eriol spoke his thoughts out loud.

Syaoran nearly broke the compass out of frustration. He now feared for the worst. A thorough search of the home and property had shown that she was not there. Now, their failure to locate her through scrying confirmed that an unfamiliar source of magic was preventing anyone from finding her.

Syaoran paced the length of the room. His anger was apparent by the trench he would surely have cut into the floor. "This isn't going anywhere!" Syaoran growled suddenly, punching the wall at the opposite side of the room upon his approach.

"Xiao Lang, calm down! Getting angry isn't going to help." Yelan demanded from across the room.

"I should have checked on her sooner. I had a really strange feeling that something would happen. We underestimated Kuen-Jie!" Syaoran concluded, his voice growing louder with each spoken word.

"We don't know that, Xiao Lang, maybe she just went out for a walk," one of his sisters suggested in encouragement.

"If she had just gone out for a walk then we would have been able to locate her through scrying!" Syaoran snapped in reply, his anger and frustration now visible through his chi, causing his sister to back away even though she was on the other side of the room.

"Xiao Lang!" Yelan reprimanded, her tone of voice demanding order.

"Xiao Lang!" Called another voice simultaneously with Yelan's, coming from the hall where the footsteps of someone running could be heard approaching the room.

"Meilin?" Syaoran's eyes widened in surprise as she came running into the room. "Meilin? What are you doing here?! You're not suppose to be here…," his voice trailed off as she flung herself at him. He caught her instinctively and held her out at arms length. Her eyes were blood shot with tears and her expression was a mess of sorrow and fear.

"Dui bu qi, I'm sorry! I'm so Sorry! There wasn't anything that I could do! He made me do it!" Meilin frantically confessed.

"Meilin? What are you talking about? Where is Sakura? If you know what happened to Sakura…," Syaoran was yelling, his gaze bore into her as if to kill. He had unknowingly been shaking her violently when Yelan approached and pulled Meilin out of his grasp. Eriol, who followed suit, took hold of Syaoran's arms and held them behind his back until he would calm down.

Meilin collapsed at Yelan's feet into a fit of violent sobs. "I didn't want to do it! But…," she sobbed. "But…he made me!"

"Where is Sakura, Meilin? Take me to her." Syaoran spoke, his voice sounding deeper then usual. His eyes were hidden by his bangs. He had calmed down enough for Eriol to release him, but his aura still gave off a threatening vibe. Surely someone was going to pay severely for Sakura's abduction.

Yelan helped Meilin to her feet and lead her to a chair. "I shouldn't have let the elders force you and your mother out of the Dynasty with your father," she spoke apologetically. "It was obvious that Kuen-Jie would use your friendship with Sakura and Xiao Lang to his advantage. Forcing you to stay away from Sakura was obviously poor judgment on the Elders behalf. Though I am partly at fault for not telling Sakura that Kuen-Jie is your father. In truth, I feared how Sakura would take the news, being how close you are, as friends," Yelan explained, sitting in the chair next to Meilin's and soothingly running a hand over Meilin's hair and back as Meilin fought to gain control over her hysteria.

"It's…not…your fault…Auntie…," Meilin managed to say between sobs. "You did what you thought was best for Kinomoto-san," Meilin said after taking a deep breath. She then wiped at her eyes and cheeks with the handkerchief that Yelan offered to her before standing to face Syaoran. "Let's go!" She told him with a look of urgent determination.

Elsewhere, Sakura, Yue, and Kero were left in a large room in what appeared to be a warehouse. There were no windows and the ceiling was probably 20 feet high. The room was also cluttered with wooden crates. All of which were covered with vines. The vines ran in, out, and through the wooden crates, connecting them to one another. Similarly, Sakura, Yue, and Kero were all restrained against their own separate crate with the vines entangling around their arms, leg's, and body to hold them securely.

This was one of their only silent moments, as they all brainstormed for additional ideas to free themselves. Already Sakura had tried to use the SWORD card, after managing to free a hand from the entanglement of vines. After all, the SWORD was supposed to be able to cut through anything. The vines quickly grew back after being severed, though. Most shocking of all, the vines seemed to have a consciousness of some sort and were able to gather and remember information. As a result of this, the vines had grown up to completely conceal her hands.

Yue attempted to free himself using his crystalline projectiles and Kero furiously gnawed at the vines. The Vines grew back after all of their efforts, and even seemed to become thicker and tougher. The struggle was beginning to exhaust their energy.

Sakura attempted to reach for her Star wand, which had been knocked from her hands and now lay on the floor just centimeters out of reach from her foot. If only she could touch the wand. Even if it was only with her foot, could she activate its power?

"What should I do?" Sakura spoke, though more to herself then to her companions. "FIRE didn't work, SWORD didn't work. Is this one of Syaoran's cards?" She wondered.

"It is most likely the Wood Dragon," Yue answered to her rambling.

"Wood?" Sakura stated in surprise. "But, it is nothing like my WOOD card. WOOD is a gentle card," Sakura reasoned.

"Your Sakura card for WOOD is gentle, but the WOOD dragon is feeding off of Sha, negative energy. Its emotion is anger and it is fragmenting." Yue explained.

"Sou na, it can't be," Sakura exclaimed. "Then the only way to defeat it is with Syaoran's cards," She hung her head in near defeat. "Syaoran doesn't know where we are…"

Meanwhile, Syaoran and Meilin hopped out from the back of one of the Li family limo's a few city blocks away from the warehouse. The limousine had gotten them this far much quicker then public transportation would have. Meilin proceeded to lead him through the alleyways. Syaoran shot a questioning glance to her when she began to climb up a fire escape ladder on the side of an old boarded up and seemingly abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of the city.

"You don't expect that we go through the front door, do you?" She answered his unspoken question.

"Why not, this is obviously a trap, why try to sneak in?" Syaoran countered

Meilin was taken back and froze in her tracks to stare at him in disbelief. "I'm not trying to lead you into a trap!" She exclaimed defensively, her eyes suddenly tearing. "Y…ou don't trust me? I didn't mean to betray you! He made me do it! You know that I can't disobey my father!" She was starting to become hysterical again.

Syaoran placed a hand on her shoulder. "I didn't say you were leading me into a trap!" He exclaimed with a low growl of annoyance. Meilin suddenly became quiet and looked up at him with wide eyes. "You father surely knew that you would bring me here. If he didn't want you to, then he wouldn't have ever let you out of his sight. He was expecting you to do this."

Meilin narrowed her eyes in anger upon realizing the truth of his words.

"Let's go," Syaoran instructed. "It doesn't matter if it's a trap. I have to get Sakura back."

Syaoran followed her up the fire escape, to the roof. They entered through the door on the rooftop and made their way through the warehouse on a catwalk. The warehouse was suspiciously quiet. There wasn't anyone else there that he could visibly see. It was way too easy for them to make their way down the stairs to the main floor. This was definitely a trap, it was as plain as day. Syaoran stayed on alert. His senses keen to everything around him.

Meilin stealthily lead him to a boxed off room in the center of the warehouse. "There's no point in trying to sneak around," Syaoran told her. "They know we're here." He had spotted half a dozen cameras "hidden" throughout the building already. "In fact, no one else is here. They are probably watching from the safety of a completely different location," Syaoran spat. "Cowards."

Standing in front of the door, Syaoran observed that the room was not a part of the original design of the warehouse. It's walls, reaching up to the ceiling, were obviously newer then the frame of the building. He could sense the ominous presence of sha, cursed energy, radiating from the room. "Stay here," He commanded to Meilin and reached to open the door.

Struggling against the vines that held her securely against a wooden crate, Sakura was finally able to touch her Star Wand with the tip of her toe, just as the door into the room was opened. What can I do? I have to try something! Sakura thought to herself. "ERASE," Sakura called for the aid of the ERASE card with the desperate hope that the vines would disappear. The room was surrounded with a blinding white light.

Syaoran shielded his eyes as he stepped into the room. "Sakura!?" He called out to her.

Sakura's eyes flew open at the sound of her name, despite the radiant brightness of the light, which blinded her. "Syaoran?" she questioned if she had really heard his voice. The ERASE didn't work, she could still feel the vines entangled around her. "Syaoran!" she answered his call.

As the light began to fade, she could only see spots, but she heard the sound of footsteps rushing towards her. "Syaoran, be careful! Don't get caught in the vines! My magic wont work against them!" Sakura warned.

"Dragon of Metal, come forth and sever the wood that binds them!" Syaoran instructed, pinning his "METAL" card do the floor before him with the tip of his sword.

Again, the room was surrounded in a brilliant white light.

Sakura felt the vines loosen around her and found herself falling forward and into Syaoran's arms. Immediately upon their contact the magic circle formed beneath their feet. A great wind blew up and encircled around them. They were both familiar with this by now. They held to one another and waited for the air current to slow down and the light to constrict around them until it formed a beam between them shooting up through the ceiling of the warehouse, though it left no damage.

Syaoran took hold of the card before him. It showed a green dragon under which was a green crescent, which was positioned like that of an umbrella, or the canopy of a tree. "The Wood Dragon" Syaoran revealed, lowering the card for Sakura to see.

A deep, dark laugh suddenly sounded from the door. It was the kind of laugh that would send a wave of fear up your spine. "You did very well my daughter. I am impressed."

Sakura could feel Syaoran tense and he tightened his grip around her. "I expected this!" He growled and pulled Sakura behind him and into Yue's expecting arms.

Kuen-Jie gave another chuckle. "Were you? I thought it was rather obvious," he said, moving his cold gaze to Syaoran. "But were you expecting this?" Meilin was pushed suddenly into the room. "I no longer have any use for you," he said cruelly and shut the door behind her.

Both Syaoran and Kero ran towards the door, only to find that they were thrown back several feet by a magical force.

Sakura and Meilin both rushed to Syaoran's side. "Are you alright!?" They both asked simultaneously.

"That magical barrier is surrounding the entire room," Yue observed. "We're trapped in here."


	16. Episode 15:

CCS-2: Card creators Sakura & Syaoran

Episode 15:

* * *

**Disclaimer:** _Cardcaptor Sakura_ is property of **CLAMP** I claim no rights to any of the original characters, only the idea for this storyline and any new characters I may have introduced for the purpose of building and continuing the storyline. ARIGATO!! (Thank the gods for copy & paste...)

**A/N:** Konnichiwa Minnasan! Gomen Nasai, for taking so long on this episode. Please enjoy!

* * *

Just as he thought, it had all been a trap. Yue's words echoed through Syaoran's mind. "A magical barrier is surrounding the entire room."

Syaoran kipped up to his feet after having been thrown back by the force that blocked their escape.

Kero sent a ball of fire aimed for the door, only for it to be absorbed into the barrier. The only effect being that the barrier sparkled with a brilliant orange and red ripple pattern that spread throughout the entire length and width of the barrier, which was the outer perimeter of the room.

Syaoran released his sword and pointed its blade towards the ceiling. He looked as if he had gone into a meditative trance while he leaned his forehead against the flat of the blade.

"I am so sorry, Kinomoto-san, this is all my fault," Meilin apologized to Sakura with her eyes averted to the floor in shame.

Sakura answered her friend with a hug of reassurance. "You could not disobey your father, I understand. We will figure a way out of here."

"Kuen-Jie has been using cursed energy to attack us," Yue spoke his thoughts out loud, "and we have been able to defend against those curses up to now by using the element that either cures or destroys them." Yue stood with his arms folded over his chest as he pondered their circumstances.

"What Elemental Dragons does the kid have again, Sakura-san?" Kero asked.

Sakura recall the events that had occurred since everything began. "Well, the first card that was created was the Metal Dragon," Sakura began to explain. "Followed by the Fire Dragon, then the Water Dragon and just now the Wood Dragon card was created," she concluded.

"So, of the five elements, the only one left is EARTH," Meilin chimed in. Even if she didn't know or couldn't feel magic it didn't mean that she didn't know what the elements were. Such was common knowledge.

"Of course, that's it!" Syaoran exclaimed suddenly and pulled out the Wood Dragon Card. Earth sha, cursed energy, was being used to keep them trapped in here. The element of Wood could destroy Earth. Syaoran pinned the card down with the tip of his sword. "Wood Dragon, come to our aid! Destroy that which contains us within these walls!"

A power began to surge and the magic circle formed beneath him. A green light emitted from the circle and began to fill the room. The light took on the form of a dragon. As the dragon grew to enormous proportions the walls strained to contain the entity of light. Though it was transparent, the massive being exploded with such a force that the walls of the room were blasted apart.

"SHIELD!" Sakura called as she entered into Syaoran's magic circle in time for her own magic to protect them both from the flying debris. Kero shielded himself, and Meilin, with his wings. Yue's wings surrounded him in time to block several planks of broken wood after he flew quickly out of the way of a falling pillar.

Once all of the debris had settled the greenish light began to disperse and turn yellow. The now yellow, gold colored light began to constrict until it was contained solely within the magic circle formed under Sakura and Syaoran's feet. The light continued to constrict until it was nothing more then a beam of light between the couple that shined up through the roof of the warehouse. Once the light faded, a card was left in its' place. The Earth dragon was a yellow, gold color with the symbol of a yellow, gold square showing beneath it.

As soon as the magic dissipated, Kuen-Jie could be seen standing on the catwalk staring at them with a mixed expression of surprise, fear, and anger.

Syaoran looked ready to kill, it was an expression that neither Sakura nor Meilin remembered ever seeing. He held his sword ready to attack. The Warehouse contained several wooden crates and heavy equipment used to move those crates around. A majority of the crates were stacked jaggedly beneath the catwalk.

Rather then to take the stairs, which was the slower route to take, Syaoran leapt up the crates in order to reach Kuen-Jie more quickly. "You!" Syaoran growled at the man with a vengeance. "Do NOT underestimate me!"

Kuen-Jie smirked at the threat and raised his hand ominously, from which a red orb began to form. "It is you who underestimate me!" He replied and through the orb aimed for the crates beneath Syaoran's feet.

As Syaoran jumped towards the next stack of crates, which would have brought him just below the catwalk, the crates exploded into flames. The force or the explosion caused Syaoran to be shoved away from his landing and he found himself falling to the warehouse floor.

"Please, Give him wings! FLY!" Sakura cried out in a panic as Yue moved to shield her from the flames and flying debris.

A bright flash of white light appeared suddenly at Syaoran's back that faded to reveal a pair of white feathery wings just in time for him to catch flight.

"Syaoran!" Sakura cried out his name and struggle to see around Yue as he guarded her from the flames. Kero left Meilin a safe distance away and took flight towards Kuen-Jie, to attack.

Syaoran flew up out of reach of the flames and caught sight of Sakura's position. She was encircled with flames and Yue was injured, unable to fly. "Water Dragon, come forth!" Syaoran called to extinguish the flames.

"Hey, Kid! Hurry!" Kero called to Syaoran as he flew towards Kuen-Jie. Syaoran returned to action, taking advantage of the wings bestowed upon him by Sakura's FLY card, and flew in towards Kuen-Jie to attack.

Kero was the first to arrive at the catwalk where he lunged to attack. Syaoran landed on the opposite side from Kero and prepare to raise his sword when suddenly Kero landed into him, landing him on his back with Kero's fierce growl centimeters away from his face. Kero had lunged directly through Kuen-Jie, whose form wasn't solid.

"Oi! Get off of me you big fur-ball!" Syaoran yelled, attempting to push Kero's weight off of him.

"That's his Astral body!" Yue yelled to them from below. Kuen-Jie was using Astral Projection, meaning that his actual body was being protected most likely somewhere outside of the warehouse.

"Jump!" Sakura called, preparing to join in on the attack by jumping to the catwalk.

"Sakura, NO!" Syaoran yelled after Kero leapt off of him and allow him to see Kuen-Jie release, in her direction, a spear of red light that was Arrowed Sha and would kill her on contact. Immediately Syaoran was up and leapt from the catwalk to soar towards her, but would he make it before the spear hit her?

"Sakura!" Both Kero and Yue called hopelessly, knowing that neither could do anything to save their mistress.

Kuen-Jie laughed evilly, confident that he would soon be rid of the card master and expectant that he could then defeat Syaoran and the guardians in short order.

The spear of arrowed sha was cursed fire energy. Though it felt as if they were moving in slow motion, there wasn't enough time for any of them to react with any defense.

Syaoran would gladly take the shot if it meant that Sakura would live, but the spear flew about a yard ahead of him.

Just before the spear hit it's target a green sphere surrounded Sakura and ricocheted the arrowed sha at a right angle. Seconds later Syaoran flew through the sphere and caught Sakura into a tight embrace. "Thank the Gods, you're safe!" He exclaimed.

The couple hovered a couple of yards from the floor surrounded by the green translucent sphere. Syaoran held Sakura protectively around the waist with one arm. In his other hand his sword was held ready to attack. Syaoran spun around to glare at Kuen-Jie. "This is your second offence against my Fiancée," Syaoran yelled angrily. "You surely have a death wish!"

Standing at Syaoran's side with a hand resting against his chest, Sakura stared at him in disbelief. She hadn't ever seen him this angry. Though she was happy over how protective he was being... she couldn't control a wave of fear that surged through her as a result of his anger, even if it wasn't directed at her.

"Xiao Lang, control yourself. You cannot defeat him through physical force," a voice echoed through the sphere around them. Sakura recognized it as the voice of the Syaoran look-a-like who had saved her on a few occasions in the past. He was the person whom she had run into at the college campus. He was the person who was an ancestor spirit of the Li family. Most specifically, he was the ancestor spirit who was asked by Yelan to protect her, Syaoran's father.

Sakura and Syaoran stared at one another in surprise. Syaoran wasn't sure whether to ask who or what. As time suddenly stopped around them, the sphere separated from around them and began to take the shape of a man. That man, though taller, more built, and dressed in traditional Chinese attire, looked exactly like Syaoran. Though it would be more correct to say that Syaoran looked exactly like a younger version of his father.

"Father…" Syaoran spoke quietly. He hadn't ever seen his father, who died a few months before Syaoran was born, though he had seen the pictures his mother kept.

"Because Kuen-Jie is using his astral body, no physical attacks will harm him. Because his physical body could be hidden anywhere Kuen-Jie has an advantage," Syaoran's father explained as all other bodies in the room stood frozen in time.

"Then how can he be defeated?" Syaoran asked,

Sakura turned in Syaoran's arm to face his father. "Perhaps we should take this advantage to make our escape. If I use the TIME card again, then we should be able to escape and then we can figure out where Kuen-Jie's body is hidden," she suggested.

"That would be possible, however I have been searching and haven't been able to locate his body," Syaoran's father explained. "It is likely that he has wards and barriers set up to prevent us from finding him, and he could be hidden anywhere in the world."

"So you are saying that it is hopeless!" Syaoran said out of anger and frustration. "That no matter what we do there will always be the threat that he will come after one of us again?"

"There may be one way." Syaoran's father interrupted, bringing their attention back to him. "You must use the element known as Spirit to destroy Kuen-Jie's astral body."

Sakura and Syaoran exchanged looks and returned their gaze back to Syaoran's father. "How do we do that?" They asked together.

"Syaoran now has the cards for all five Elemental Dragons. You should be able to call for their aid together and focus the energies on me." Syaoran's father explained. It seemed simple enough. Syaoran and his father stared at one another for a long moment in silence. Sakura look back and forth between them awkwardly. Then his father approached and stood only a couple of centimeters away from them. "I am proud of you, my son. You have brought this family much honor." He spoke to Syaoran and then embraced his son. Because Syaoran still held an arm around Sakura, she was also pulled into the embrace and Syaoran's father next turned his attention to her. "I am honored that you will become a part of our family," Syaoran's father told her with a smile and caressed her cheek gently.

"Thank you," Sakura told him. "For protecting me." She then slipped out of Syaoran's arm to embrace his father. Afterwards, he lowered her back into Syaoran's embrace and nodded to his Son.

"Let us begin."

Syaoran lowered himself and Sakura to the floor so that he may release his hold on her and have both hands free. Pulling out his cards of the Elemental Dragons he began to recite his incantation. "Dragon of Metal, Dragon of Fire, Dragon of Water, aid us. Dragon of Wood and Dragon of Earth, aid us. All five Elemental dragons I now beseech. Come forth and do my bidding!" A swirl of white, red, dark blue, green, and yellow light encircled around Syaoran, waiting for his command. Once again Syaoran and his father met one another's gaze in silent communication with time still frozen around them. When Syaoran's father nodded Syaoran recited the end of his incantation. "Elemental Dragons of Metal, Fire, Water, Wood, and Earth, combine with the spirit before you, the spirit of my father, to destroy the entity of the man who wishes to do harm against us!"

With that said, the Dragons of light flew towards Syaoran's father, and into him, causing his form to become as a glowing black orb which then flew at the astral form of Kuen-Jie. At the exact moment of impact time was restarted and Kuen-Jie let out a roar of pain and terror. His Astral form then exploded into what appeared to be a shower of glittering confetti.

Sakura let out a cry of joy and ran to Syaoran, who caught her up into a tight hug. "We Did It!" Sakura exclaimed in relief.

Kero, Yue, and Meilin watch the scene before them. Neither was sure how it had ended this way. Kero flew down from the catwalk and landed beside Yue to offer support to his injured comrade. Meilin ran out from the hiding spot where she had been left and observed Sakura and Syaoran's excitement with mixed feelings of confusion and awe.

Sakura's arms were wrapped around Syaoran's neck as they embraced on another with relief that everything was over. They were surrounded by the green sphere and as they began to pull out of their hug their eyes caught. Syaoran raised a hand up her back to her hair and pulled her head closer to take her lips in a deep kiss. At that moment the magic circle formed at their feet and the green sphere surged with energy. The energy blew around the couple, but they paid it little heed. The Sphere began to construct until it hovered as an orb above them. As they pulled out of their kiss the orb exploded into an array of green glitter to reveal the card of the Spirit Dragon.

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**A/N:** An epilogue chapter will follow shortly. I Thank all of my fans for their support throughout this series. I pray that you will check out some of my other fiction. For **Cardcaptor Sakura** I have also written my **CCS- The Sealed Card Epilogue** which takes place directly before this series. I have also written **Tomoyo's Desire** which I will continue to work on which follows the senior year of our CCS-group. Also please check out **Xiao-Langs Formalities** which is my version of what happens following the ending of the Manga, before Syaoran returns to Japan.

If you enjoy my writing, I have also created my own original storyline. It is called **Soul Retrival **and may be found in my DeviantArt at gentlewolf./ or on FictionPress at /gentlewolf. Please check it out!

**Summary: **Emily Sullivan was a freshman at Ball State University when she woke up one day as 12-year-old Tanaka, Akiko in Japan. Surely it was only a dream. Emily was famaliar with lucid dreaming, but everything seemed a bit too real.


	17. Epilogue

CCS-2: Card creators Sakura & Syaoran

Epilogue:

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**Disclaimer:** _Cardcaptor Sakura_ is property of **CLAMP** I claim no rights to any of the original characters, only the idea for this storyline and any new characters I may have introduced for the purpose of building and continuing the storyline. ARIGATO!! (Thank the gods for copy & paste...)

**Updated on 1/1/09:** As a Christmas gift I was given a picture, drawn by crystaltie in DeviantArt, of the battle scene from the last episode of Sakura and Syaoran. If you would like to see, I have provided a link to the picture in my profile. ^_^

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A week has passed since the confrontation occurred against Kuen-Jie. That night we were fashionably late for our engagement party. Syaoran snuck us in through the back door and we went into our individual rooms to shower and change.

A flood of relief came over Yelan when we finally presented ourselves. Shortly after, the discovery of Kuen-Jie's body was announced and his death was reported by the media to have been caused by a stroke. The Elders pulled us aside to Yelan's study for a private conference, during which we explained the situation and presented Syaoran's completed set of Elemental Dragon Cards. There were a total of six cards, one each for Earth, Metal, Water, Wood, Fire, and Spirit.

After the meeting, we returned to the party, where we were introduced to the high society of Hong Kong as being betrothed. It was announced that the power of the Clow Cards, now officially Sakura Cards, would once again be an heirloom of the Li Dynasty. Also that together Syaoran and I had created a new form of magic to bestow into the family, the Elemental Dragons Cards. An overabundance of cheers, praise, and congratulations was spread throughout the room because the Power of the Dynasty had been restored and the blessings it would have due to such competent heirs.

For the remainder of our vacation Syaoran took me out on one of the Li family's private yachts. With Eriol, Yukito, and Kero along as our chaperones. After our rather intimate encounter, the suggestion of it being unwise that we be left alone together on an overnight cruise resulted in a picture, taken by Meilin, sporting both of our faces the same color as red bean paste.

After our return to Japan, we were all surprised to discover that Eriol would be transferring back to England, being as his presence was no longer required and he sorely missed Kaho.

Tomoyo was upset over all of the footage she missed in filming of Card creators Sakura & Syaoran, a new home video in progress. However, she quickly forgave me, as I promised to model the new clothing she was inspired to make after seeing the fashion show in Paris.

Tomorrow we will be returning to class. For now, Syaoran and I are sitting on the swings at Penguin Park as a conclusion to our movie date. It is a beautiful clear night and neither of us being quite ready to separate for the night; I am watching the stars as we sit in silence, enjoying one another's company. There isn't a need for words. After all, this is only the beginning. We have our whole lives ahead of us, and together we can overcome any obstacle that comes our way.

**FIN**

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**Author Note:** Konnichiwa, Minnasan. It's been a lot of fun, but alas all good stories must come to an end. Thank you, everyone, for your devotion to this series and all of your wonderful reviews. I am truly going to miss many of you.

I am in the process of finishing all of the fanfics that I currently have in process. That way I can make room for more. I have been debating continuing this series to a CCS - 3 or CCS-4. It is possible that **Tomoyo's Desire** may be considered to be CCS-3. It takes place during Sakura and Syaoran's Senior year of High School. I need to re-read what I have written and decide where I want to go with it. I considered a while ago the possibility of writing a "college years" CCS Fanfic. What are your opinions? Do you, as my most loyal fans, want me to continue writing CCS Fanfiction?

Keep in mind, I have in mind to write a **Gakuen Alice** series sort of fanfic (which I need to do research for) and have an idea to write a fanfic for the Manga Series, **Absolute Boyfriend** by _Watase Yuu_. I have been reading a lot of Manga lately, so a few more ideas may come to mind in the future. Possibly for **W-Juliet** as well.

Please don't forget to check out my original story, "**Soul Retrieval**" at FictionPress or DeviantArt. The links may be found on my Profile. If you are worried about having to make another account, don't feel that you have to. You may send me a message with your review to my account here instead.

Your opinions are important to me. After all, I am writing these stories for your enjoyment. I like to hear what my readers would like to see. After all, this isn't truely the End, I have plenty of more stories where this one came from!

Domo Arigatou Gozaimasu Minnasan!


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